December 2017

PRESIDENT’S CORNER DENISE BECKER, CMCA, AMS, PCAM CAI-NJ 2017 PRESIDENT | HOMESTEAD MANAGEMENT SERVICES, INC., AAMC

“Sing me sweet and sleepy all the way back home. It’s a far gone lullaby sung many years ago. Mama, Mama, many worlds I’ve come since I first left home.” Robert Hunter – “Brokedown Palace”

A. A. Milne of Winnie-the-Pooh fame once wrote: “how lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” How lucky (and grate- ful) indeed. This has not been an easy year, my friends, but we made it through and we are (hopefully) all the better for it. Another year on the bright blue ball, another year with loved ones, another year of learning and experiences, and another year of some good times. When I wrote my first column for Community Trends ® back in January, I had a few goals for the year. First and foremost, my primary goal is to not mess anything up. As we close out the year, I hope that I can say that I was suc- cessful in that goal. I also asked each and every one of you to be mentors/ ambassadors for CAI. My goal was to increase involve- ment, increase membership, and make 2017 even better than the years before. Again, I hope that I was also suc- cessful in that goal. And now, some THANK YOUS ! To the chapter staff – Larry, Angela, Jaclyn, Laura, Erika and Brooke – I could not have made it through the year without you. Thank you to my fellow Board members for putting up with me this year. We may not have agreed on everything, but everything we did, we did for the betterment of the chapter. Thank you to all of our chapter members, for your continued par- ticipation, your sponsorship at events, your willingness to give your time to volunteer to serve on a committee, speak at one of our educational seminars, and for everything else that you do. Our members are really what make this chap-

"It would be remiss if I didn’t give honorable mention to all of the Past Presidents before me, who paved the way and supported me throughout my term as President." It would be remiss if I didn’t give honorable mention to all of the Past Presidents before me, who paved the way and supported me throughout my term as President. I will be joining you in the comfy chairs shortly. I wish to welcome the new CAI-NJ board members who will be replacing Gabriel Vitale and myself on the board as our terms are up with CAI-NJ. I wish you much success and look forward to seeing the differences you will make for our chapter. I feel it was forever ago that I stood up in front of the membership and pledged my oath to be the best board member I could be for our chapter. And Gabe, my dear friend, it has been a great six years serving with you. To everyone else who I am missing, those who I have met along the way, or those who just joined as a member this year, attended an educational seminar, a networking event, or the Annual Conference & Expo, thank you, thank you, thank you. Your continued membership will get us to ter special. And a very special thank you to my friend and column editor, Jon Katz. We had a lot of fun putting these columns together!

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