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Name: Karen Walsh

Occupation: Hebrew school director for Flemington Jewish Community Center

Address: Flemington

Family: Divorced with two children: Abby, a senior majoring in high school education for social studies and psychology at Rider University; and Jake, a freshman at Raritan Valley Community College for an associate degree. His goal is to graduate from New Jersey Institute of Technology with a degree in applied technology.

Community activities: Member of Flemington's Environmental Commission; on the Holocaust and Genocide Advisory Board of Raritan Valley Community College. Helped to establish butterfly garden in Flemington and a wildflower garden at the Flemington Jewish Community Center.

Hobbies: Gardening, cooking, knitting, and reading.

Self-portrait: "I have strong work ethic. I'm a go-to person. I am a very organized person in a cluttered place. My personal goal is to instill love of Judaism through community service. Another goal is to raise consciousness on environmental issues as seen through the eyes of the Jewish community."

Motto: "What goes around comes around."

Greatest accomplishment: "Raising two bright, sensitive, kind children."

Bad habits: "Eating junk food."

Favorite TV shows: " 'Top Chef'. I also love 'In Plain Sight,' 'Mercy,' 'House,' all the 'Law and Order' and 'NCIS' programs and 'The Weather Program'."

Favorite food: "There are too many to pick from but it would be anything classified as dessert."

Best childhood memory: "The times spent with my grandmother, Nana Bea. All the things I love to do I learned from her -- gardening, knitting, cooking, playing mahjong. She had some great sayings that really helped me along the way. 'What goes around, comes around. Go out with the creeps, look over the crowd. Kids are cute, when they are little you could just eat them up, when they are teenagers, you wish you had. You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar'."

People don't know that I... "Used to be afraid to talk in public."

Last book I read: "The Botany of Desire," by Michael Pollak.

The biggest asset in the local Jewish communities: "No one thing is responsible for the success of the local community. Within the synagogue, it is everything from the rabbi, staff, teachers, students, parents, volunteers; within the larger community, it is really the same, the collaborative effort of everyone bringing their strength. It all works together."

The biggest problem in the local Jewish communities: "For me in my position as Hebrew school director is public school after-school sports because it interferes with Hebrew school. That one gets me all the time. I don't think it's the biggest problem, but it is a problem."

If I had more time... "I would get my certification as a master gardener."