Lori Beth Schwartz, Susan Lopatkin and Alice Kasten have served the Great Neck community in various aspects for years.
For their work, all three women were honored by the Town of North Hempstead last Wednesday and inducted into the May W. Newburger Women’s Roll of Honor at the Clubhouse at Harbor Links.
Schwartz, a former United Parent Teacher Council of Great Neck president, said it was “inspiring” to hear about what Lopatkin, Kasten and the 10 other North Shore women the town honored had done to earn their honors.
“That was worth it all,” she said. “That was like a reward for doing all the hard work, to listen to the other women and get inspired by their work.”
Schwartz has spent years volunteering her time to promoting better education for public school students.
She served on the Parent Teacher Association for both Saddle Rock and John F. Kennedy Elementary schools in Great Neck, as well as for Great Neck North Middle and South High School.
Schwartz has also served on the Board of The East Harlem Tutorial Program and is an active member at Temple Beth-El of Great Neck.
She said she wanted to use her volunteer work to bring together the diverse community of Great Neck.
“I made it a personal goal of mine to include a multicultural conversation in every event that I was part of, whether it be an event at the temple or at the schools,” Schwartz said. “I don’t see the world getting any better, or the rhetoric becoming a kinder or gentler world, but at least personally, one by one, we can model that for our children and keep our community harmonious so we can all thrive.”
She said she developed a passion for bringing different types of groups of people together from her father’s, who was in attendance at the ceremony, experiences emigrating to America from Poland.
“I think that we need to be committed to ensuring ongoing conversation and build personal relationships across the cultural boundaries rather than within our own cultural boundaries,” Schwartz said. “I hope when we go through any trying times, you can then depend on those bonds to keep the community together and keep the conversation positive.”
Lopatkin, who won re-election last week to serve her fifth term as Village of Kensington mayor, said she was impressed with the wide range of honorees.
“I think the town did an excellent job of selecting women geographically as well as based on what they have contributed in areas such as education, health care and government,” she said. “I enjoyed it a lot.”
Lopatkin has served as mayor of Kensington since 2008, after previously serving as chair of the village’s zoning board and executive board member of the Kensington Civic Organization.
She also serves as vice president of the Great Neck Village Officials Association.
Lopatkin is an active member at Temple Israel of Great Neck where she chairs the temple’s finance committee.
She said she will continue to serve her village to the best of her ability and continue to serve her temple.
“For me personally, nothing will change because I will continue to do all the things I have done up until now,” Lopatkin said.
Kasten, who is president of the Great Neck Historical Society, said it was important that the town honors those who try to improve their local communities.
“It’s lovely that the town does this,” she said. “That they recognize people who volunteer time and who work together to make the town a better place to be.”
Kasten is a founding member of the Great Neck Historical Society’s Board of Directors and has worked with the town to help preserve the Stepping Stones Lighthouse.
She has served on the board of CLASP Children’s Center for 20 years.
Kasten also currently serves on the Board of the New York State Science Olympiad, and has coordinated the Middle School Regional Competitions in New York City for more than 20 years.
She said the other honorees’ accomplishments were commendable because of the difficulty in managing volunteer work with other aspects of life.
“It is difficult to juggle work and volunteer work and your life but I think it’s something that really needs to be done,” Kasten said.
