Many in our tribe talk about “The Power of Gotham.”

Many involved in our Gotham tribe support charitable activities. The Gotham Foundation each year at our holiday party supports charitable causes that matters to our members. Gotham even features a Make A Difference “MAD” group for those connected to causes and more; others may differ but I take credit for that name and no one can argue my advocacy led to Gotham allowing its members to use our Fredslist list serve every Monday to advocate for our charitable causes and even solicit donations for non-profits than matter to us. 

I certainly have used that space to advocate for causes I support and work with and for, including Services Now for Adult Persons (SNAP) where I chair its board of directors (and Gotham Long Island and LI Women member Renee Richter and Rev. Dr. Evelyn Miller-Suber, wife of Gotham Queens member Tony Suber, serve on the board), Kings-FDR Tolerance Foundation (see last week’s blog concerning next week’s Superbowl) of my local Knights of Pythias (FDR) lodge and the Theresa Foundation that honored Gotham co-Founder (and Friday blogger) Fred Klein and this correspondent in successive years). 

I also lead an all-volunteer Northeast Queens Jewish Community Council (“NEQJCC”) which “boasts” a rather small budget. As a result, due to a special initiative of CPA William Skody, a member of Gotham MAD and Gotham Virtual, NEQCC benefits when it comes to required annual filings. William’s firm, Skody, Scot & Co., CPA, PC prepares the documents gratis for charities with low annual budget and income. That is a very special thing that William’s firm which exclusively focuses on serving non-profits including help with tax exemptions, accounting, preparing financial statements and tax returns; I learned of this only through Gotham and it saves significant funds for the non-profit each year. Thank you so much William!

People often think of networking to get business but with the Gotham network, its members get access to so much more. The New York Grand Lodge website for the Knights of Pythias includes a quote, “we help people.” Well, it can be said, “Gotham helps people.”