By Kathianne Boniello
As northeast Queens’ shops, churches and schools reflect the increasing diversity of the borough, Douglaston’s Pride of Judea Community Services marked its 30th anniversary with a celebration of its history and a nod to the future.
A host of politicians and community officials turned out Friday morning to help Pride of Judea commemorate its three decades in Douglaston.
Pride of Judea is the largest mental health social services agency in Queens. Often referred to as “the Pride,” the center provides services ranging from marriage counseling to crisis intervention to children’s services. It opened its doors 87 years ago as an orphanage in Brooklyn, and relocated to Queens in 1969.
The agency moved to its 243-02 Northern Blvd. location in 1972. In 1997, Pride of Judea merged with the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, an organization with more than 172 mental health facilities throughout the city.
Paul Levine, executive vice president of the Jewish Board, told the crowd of about 50 people Friday that “our movement toward serving the diversity of our communities is being led by Pride.”
Those who attended last week’s legislative breakfast included state Sen. Frank Padavan (R-Bellerose), state Assemblyman Mark Weprin (D-Bayside), his brother, City Councilman David Weprin (D-Hollis), City Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside), City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) and U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside).
The appearance of the Weprin brothers brought out several jokes and family stories throughout the morning. While Mark Weprin has been an assemblyman for some time, newly elected David Weprin was just named as chairman of the City Council’s powerful Finance Committee. Their father, Saul, was the longtime state Assembly speaker.
Pride of Judea Director Paula Held Sharf took a moment to praise Ackerman for his support of the organization as the congressman slipped out to meet other obligations.
Ackerman, whose wife Rita is a social worker at Pride, inspired a round of laughter when he quipped “you have a personal lobbyist living in my bed.”
Held Sharf said Pride of Judea has made reaching out to Queens’ myriad ethnic groups a priority with both internal and external changes.
Recently the center changed its name from “Pride of Judea Mental Health Services” to “Pride of Judea Community Services,” she said, to make its facilities more inviting to the community.
In addition, she said, “after considerable efforts, we can now offer services in Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian, Spanish, Italian, French Creole, Hindi, Portuguese, and Farsi.”
“All we need is financial support,” she said with a nod toward the assembled politicians, “and we can do the rest.”
Community Board 11 Chairman Bernard Haber, a Douglaston resident, called the Pride of Judea “a central part of our community for all these 30 years. This has been the centerpiece to all the mental health facilities in the community.”
Padavan, a longtime champion of mental health agencies, took his own turn at comedy when he stepped up to the microphone.
“I’m delighted to be here with the Weprin brothers,” he said. “Mark and I are really pleased that whenever anyone ever comes to us about money, we can refer them to the chair of the Finance Committee.”
When the audience stopped laughing, Padavan said funding for mental health agencies was a never-ending fight.
“There’s more work to be done,” he said. Many newly elected officials are ignorant of the issue, Padavan said.
“They simply do not know about it,” he added. “It’s not a fault but a fact — so you have to educate them.”
Before Mark Weprin also pledged his support to helping mental health programs and agencies, he smiled and told the crowd: “I have never seen Frank do stand-up comedy before.”
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
