NST Resident Eneas Arkawy honored with award
STORY BY
STEPHEN VRATTOS
Photos by Julie Weissman
On Tuesday, March 20,
2018, at the annual Heart
Matters luncheon in the
historic Bohemian National Hall
in New York City, North Shore
Towers resident Eneas Arkawy was
honored as the first ever recipient
of the Lotte Bravmann z"l Eishet
Chayil (Woman of Valor) Award
for her philanthropic achievements
and longtime commitment to
UJA-Federation.
Arkawy’s work with the
esteemed organization has included
chairing Interboro Major Gifts,
Heart Matters, Planned Giving
& Endowments and many programs
at North Shore Towers.
She’s supported UJA-Federation
partner, Mishkon, a program of
the Jewish Board of Family and
Children's Services, and was a
founding member of the Alley
Pond Environmental Center in
Douglaston. Arkawy is also a Lion
of Judah, a woman in New York
who gives a gift of $6,000 or more,
individually or as a family, to UJAFederation's
annual campaign.
Through her tireless efforts,
Arkawy has raised millions for the
organization, the world’s leading
local philanthropy; whose reach
extends from New York to Israel
to nearly 70 other countries around
the world, touching 4.5 million people
each year. Since its inception
in 1917 during World War I, the
UJA-Federation has helped the less
fortunate, fighting poverty, nurturing
health and well-being among
all ages, caring for the elderly,
supporting families with special
needs, responding to crises, battling
anti-Semitism and building resilient
communities.
“I love UJA because its concerned
with people of all faiths,”
Arkawy explained.
Arkawy’s service to the esteemed
organization began after her move
to NST 27 years ago following
her retirement as an educator of
exceptional students. Throughout
her distinguished career, Arkawy
was lauded for her contributions
to education, receiving many distinctions,
including Long Island
University’s Presidential Award
and Brooklyn College’s Post 50th
Lifetime Achievement Award. But
these pale in comparison to the
impact she had on so many lives
in and out of the classroom.
One such life, Joyce Spritzbart,
journeyed from her home in
Tacoma, Washington, to attend the
event, so profound was Arkawy’s
importance in her young life.
Amazingly after many years out of
touch, Spritzbart reunited with her
beloved mentor only three years ago
when both attended the Shiva of a
mutual friend’s father. Others on
hand to celebrate their friend were
NST residents Susan Bartelstone
and Julie Weissman. An educator
herself, Weissman met Arkawy
through her Mother-in-Law, who
worked with Arkawy, eventually
taking over Arkawy’s charges upon
her retirement.
“Her love of helping children has
shaped generations in the most positive
way possible. It is fitting that
Eneas receives an award named for
a woman committed to making sure
children and adults get the help
they need to live life to the fullest,”
wrote Candice Koerner and Judith
Friedman Rosen in the introduction
to the event program.
More than ninety years-young,
Arkawy has no plans to slow down.
She’ll be chairing a UJA-Federation
of New York Celebration of Israel’s
70th on Sunday August 5, 2018,
at our own Towers on the Green,
honoring Victoria Schneps,
founder and president of Schneps
Communications, publishers of
North Shore Towers Courier,
Queens Courier, among others, with
a Lifetime Award, and Judy Ross,
founder of the North Shore Towers
Knitting Club with a Community
Service award.
Lion in Winter
Inaugural recipient of the Eishet
Chayil Award
"Lion" fans Joyce Spitzbart and
Susan Bartelstone
Good friends Arkawy with Juie Weissman
Honoree with friends
30 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ April 2018