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MADem

(135,425 posts)
Sat Jun 13, 2015, 02:10 AM Jun 2015

New leader of Houston interfaith group measures goal by meals




http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/New-leader-of-Houston-interfaith-group-measures-6314845.php
As executive director of the Anti-Defamation League's sprawling southwest division, Martin B. Cominsky has seen his share of hate....Cominsky, 57....replaces Elliot Gershenson as president and CEO of Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston in early July. Gershenson, who has held the group's top position since February 2004, will assist Cominsky as an adviser while establishing himself as a consultant for nonprofit organizations....At ADL, Cominsky created the "No Place for Hate" school program, now in operation at more than 450 Texas schools, and its related Community of Respect program for businesses and organizations.

During Gershenson's leadership, Interfaith Ministries' signature Meals on Wheels program increased its weekday client base to more than 4,000 homebound seniors; an additional 800 received breakfasts and weekend meals. In 2004, approximately 2,800 people received weekday meals. A related effort provided food for Meals on Wheels recipients' pets, serving in a single year more than 84,000 pounds of cat and dog food to more than 1,000 animals.

Serving three area agencies under the direction of the U.S. State Department, Interfaith Ministries in 2013 assisted in the resettlement of 881 refugees from 16 countries in the Houston region. Within six months of resettlement, 94 percent of the newcomers were self-sufficient.

Under Gershenson, the organization in 2013 moved from its cramped, longtime Montrose headquarters to a refurbished credit union building at 3303 Main in Midtown. The move was accompanied by the opening of a nearby 14,000-square-foot state-of-the-art Meals on Wheels distribution center.
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