By Grace Berman
Sara Cooperman is one of Yachad’s most inspirational staff members. She effortlessly juggles a full-time job, busy family life, and co-coordinating Yachad’s Cleveland chapter among many other endeavors. Her boundless energy and enthusiasm are key to the success of her chapter. Cleveland chapter supervisor Benjy Leibowitz describes Sara as, “Fun, creative, hard-working, and extremely detail-oriented. She not only excels in planning and executing Yachad programs, but she does it consistently every single week with a huge smile on her face!”
As a social work intern in the national department, I have had the pleasure of working with Sara and learning about the numerous events she plans and coordinates for her chapter. I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to interview her about her role in Yachad and her love for her work.
How did you get involved in Yachad?
I have been involved in Yachad since I was in eighth grade. I’m about to date myself but that was about 15 years ago (please, don’t do the math!). Even prior to that, we were a “Yachad family”—two of my older siblings were high school participants in the organization (both of whom met their spouses through Yachad programs) and my mother, Mary Ireland, was an assistant coordinator before I was even born! Yachad has been a big part of my family for as long as I can remember. As a child, if I stayed home from school because I wasn’t feeling well, I would still try to convince my parents that I was well enough to go to our weekly Yachad event that same evening – I did not want to miss it. They would always say, “No school, no Yachad.” How disappointing!
What is your role in Yachad? What does a day in the life of Sara Cooperman look like?
I joined Yachad as a high school peer participant and I remained active all the way through graduation. When I spent a year in Israel post-high school, there was not yet a “Yachad Israel” chapter but I did volunteer at “Gan Harmony” which is an early childhood center whose goal is the inclusion of children with disabilities into mainstream life. As this is also Yachad’s goal, I felt right at home. Then I went to college in Chicago and was the assistant to Efrem Popel, the Yachad director, for two years. I returned to Cleveland and began working as an assistant to the coordinator, my mentor, Mrs. Sarah Taub. Now I have the honor and privilege of working as a joint coordinator alongside Sarah. We have truly come full circle, as my mother assisted Sarah when Cleveland Yachad first started so many years ago!
A lot of people don’t know that in addition to being the Yachad coordinator, I have a full-time “day job” as the activities director at a small nursing home and assisted living facility owned and administrated by my brother. After my day at the nursing home, I rush home to spend time with my husband and three-year-old son, Zac. On evenings when there are no Yachad programs taking place I am usually catching up with Yachad members and students, posting and marketing our events and initiatives on social media, planning upcoming events, or attending board meetings. I also am a volunteer matchmaker on sawyouatsinai.com (hit me up, singles) and a freelance writer for the Jewish Press. Also, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t end my day wasting way too much time on Facebook. My days are packed but incredibly enriched by doing work that I love!
What is your favorite thing about working for Yachad?
Hands down, I love the people. I am so fortunate that Yachad allows me to meet, interact, and spend time with incredibly strong and inspiring people on a daily basis: Yachad members who have overcome so much adversity, high school peers and college advisors who spend their precious time with us, Yachad parents and siblings, board members, community supporters, my co-workers all around the world, and, especially, the staff in the national office, who are beyond supportive. The encouragement I get from these people is immeasurable. I treasure my relationships with them because we share the same ideology and passion to see all individuals included in the community!
I just have to mention that I LOVE Yachad’s colors; they are now my colors. Blue and orange—how can you go wrong? I think we have Eli Hagler, Yachad’s assistant director, to thank for that. Thanks Eli! I know that I go overboard sometimes with the blue and orange in my daily life but I can’t help it; wearing them brightens my day.
Name one of your accomplishments that you are most proud of.
Last year, we had a Team Yachad at the Cleveland Rite Aid marathon! We had 32 runners participating and it was so much fun! It took months of planning and lots of hands-on guidance and support from our lay leadership board and chairman, Dr. Avi Jacobs, along with Benjy Leibowitz and Eli Hagler to make it happen, but it was an incredible experience!
First of all, I must tell you that prior to this event I didn’t know the world existed before 4 a.m. Second, watching something like that start with a basic idea and grow to fruition was exhilarating.
My dad was one of the runners and so was my husband, [who is] a cancer survivor, so it became very personal to me on a whole other level. Seeing them both cross the finish line and greeting the other runners in our Team Yachad tent was an incredible experience, one I will never forget.
How would you like to see Yachad grow in the future?
Dr. Lichtman, Yachad’s international director, always talks about Yachad being a resource in our communities and I think about that often, especially as far as Cleveland is concerned. I would love Yachad to continue to grow and expand and be able to meet any and all needs of our community. Beyond our tremendous social-recreational component, I would like to see Yachad associated with various clinical services and assorted support systems. Let’s paint the town blue and orange!
Grace Berman is a social work intern at Yachad.
This article is from the 2015 issue of Belong Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy please email belong@ou.org.