For years, Stu Lahn has been a familiar face at JASA\u2019s Club 76 Older Adult Center on the Upper West Side, whether he\u2019s calling bingo numbers, leading current events discussions or helping fellow members find discounted tickets to shows.<\/p>\n
Lahn has been involved with the center for 15 years. JASA, a nonprofit social services organization, operates older adult centers throughout New York City.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tell everybody I went from being a workaholic to being a volunteer-aholic,\u201d Lahn said.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Stu Lahn has volunteered at JASA\u2019s Club 76 Older Adult Center on the Upper West Side for 15 years
\n
He serves as president of the center\u2019s advisory council and leads activities including bingo and current events discussions
\n
Lahn became involved after a neighbor invited him to the center and introduced him to new friends and activities<\/p>\n
His connection to Club 76 began with an invitation from a neighbor, Ed Somerfeld, who would later become one of his closest friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat he knew about me \u2014 I like classical music,\u201d Lahn recalled. \u201cHe said, \u2018We have a classical pianist that comes sometimes. We have tilapia.\u2019 Then it was $1.75 for a meal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not long after, another member invited him to join the center\u2019s walking club, opening the door to even more activities.<\/p>\n
“He says ‘Come with us,’\u201d Lahn said. \u201cI said ‘Where?’\u00a0 He says, ‘We’re going to drama now.’\u201d<\/p>\n
That involvement grew over time. Lahn, a Hell\u2019s Kitchen resident, became vice president of the center\u2019s advisory council, serving alongside Somerfeld.<\/p>\n
\u201cNinety-five percent of it is showing up,\u201d Lahn said. \u201cSo, I like to go and come and do things, so I get involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Somerfeld died several years ago, Lahn stepped into an even larger leadership role, becoming president of the advisory council.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was more gregarious and more outgoing, loved everybody,\u201d Lahn said of his friend. \u201cI\u2019m more compulsive about doing lots of detailed stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
That attention to detail is something staff members know well.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe comes with, like, I\u2019m talking about notes \u2014 paragraphs \u2014 of what he feels we\u2019re doing right and what he wants to change,\u201d said Jessica Infante, program director at Club 76. \u201cAnd when he understands that can\u2019t change, he\u2019s still going to complain about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to leading the advisory council, Lahn runs the center\u2019s weekly current events discussions and helps connect members with cultural events around the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he was a staff person when I first met him,\u201d said Club 76 member Mark Black. \u201cI mean, he goes way beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
His dedication has earned him a nickname among members: the \u201cMayor of Club 76.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to be appointed to a high position,\u201d Lahn joked. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be governor or state representative. No, I don\u2019t like that, that kind of politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
For his commitment to community and service, Stu Lahn is our New Yorker of the Week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For years, Stu Lahn has been a familiar face at JASA\u2019s Club 76 Older Adult Center on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[7914,25,7913,9,24,7911,12,63,7912,122,124,123,27,200],"class_list":["post-273760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-app-new-yorker-of-the-week","tag-app-top-stories","tag-chelsea-katz","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-yorker-of-the-week","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-pat-kiernan","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}