Interim director’s job made permanent

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- The Costa Mesa Senior Center’s board of trustees on

Tuesday night made interim director Aviva Goelman’s position permanent.

Goelman, who became the interim director in August, is the center’s

first executive director since Alan M. Meyers was fired in May for

allegedly spending much of his career impersonating doctors and

embezzling money from health clinics and nonprofits across the country.

“I got the call and I was happy, thrilled, shocked -- I think a

combination of all of those,” she said Wednesday. “I didn’t expect it

because there were so many rumors about other people, but I was really

happy to get this call.”

Born in Israel and raised in Montreal, Goelman has been active for

more than 15 years in the Ruth Kahn Jewish Senior Center, which is based

at the Jewish Community Center. She has also managed Early Years Toys, a

store in Newport Beach that closed this summer.

Goelman said planning her first fund-raiser on Oct. 7 is occupying

much of her time right now, but she plans to work on starting more

computer classes and volunteer programs for seniors.

She is also looking forward to working with the board and the new

senior advisory committee.

“I want it to be a tight circle so we can create new ventures,” she

said. “Seniors nowadays want to learn and want to participate. They don’t

just want to vegetate. We have many seniors here who are wonderful

people, who love to be active and who think of the center as their second

home. They spend most of their time here, and we want to keep smiles on

their faces and keep them healthy, happy and active.”

Goelman said her goal is to make the center stronger, with more

members, more programs and better communication with the community.

Center board member Gordon Dean said Goelman was selected because of

her fund-raising and public relations abilities.

“We have had a very successful operation here, but the big problem has

always been fund-raising and apparently she has the contacts to do this,”

he said. “I have only come into contact with her half a dozen times, and

she impresses me as being very able.”

The senior center, unlike most in the county, is set up to be

independent from the city.

The center leases the building from the city and currently receives

some financial support from it, but Dean said the center raises most of

the money on its own and expects to be financially independent in a few

years.