Present: Fran Kolin, Bobby Kolin, Elaine Lavine, Barbara Schildcrout, Barbara Ringel, Marcia Muskat, Wendy Small, Edna Rosen, Suellen Eshed
New Member Count: We have 19 new members to date. They continue to trickle in slowly. Six are religious school families, 9 fall into the BEET category, 5 are 20/30s. Six are interfaith, 3 are single members. One I haven’t processed yet.
BEET Report: We have had two events to date: a post-Shabbat service Pot-Luck Dinner, and a Dinner/Show event at the Bitter End.
Suellen reported on the first Pot-Luck Dinner: 25 members showed up to share food and memories of the 60’s, which included politics, sports, civic events, demonstrations, concerts, etc. We even had a few new members join us. A good time was had by all.
Marcia reported on the Bitter End and Vintage 6: 35 people met for dinner at the B Bar & Grill, and then attended the Vintage 6 Concert at The Bitter End, which featured BEET member Michael Muskat. In appreciation, Vintage 6 donated money from their ticket sales back to the BEET group. We will use it to facilitate a future event.
Lisa is coordinating the next post-Shabbat service Pot-Luck, to be held on December 19th and already has 15 people bringing food. The topic of conversation will be holiday memories. These directed topics help us to know each other better. Our plan is to briefly attend the congregational Oneg Shabbat, then assemble on the fourth floor in the double classroom for our dinner and socializing.
Barbara S. has offered to call our new members who are BEETs, to ask if they would like to be included on Suellen’s email distribution list. I have the new member applications, and will provide Barbara with contact information.
Jewish Comfort Food Fair Report: Another rousing success that Suellen will report on: we believe that it will be best to skip at least a year before we have the next JCFF. It is a really big undertaking, and we would like to greatly increase the number of people who attend. We may tweak the planning, and change the time of the event, but feel that October is the right time of year, since cold weather is what makes us appreciate comfort food the most.
New Member Shabbat: David has asked us to change the date of the New Member Shabbat so he can be present. The new date is Friday, January 23rd (a week earlier than originally scheduled). At the end of December, we will send out invitations to our new members, and I will ask David to select representatives from among them to speak that evening.
New Baby List: I’ve been providing our president Karen Feuer with the names of the new babies born to parents and grandparents in the congregation, with the idea that she incorporates them into her Rosh Hashanah greetings. Karen feels that there isn’t sufficient time at that moment to include them. At the Ritual meeting, we discussed where this might best be incorporated. I suggested that during the Erev Sukkot service, where we are supposed to bring new fruits, might be a good time to include a blessing of the new babies. People would be invited to bring their new family members, or pictures of them, to the service for a special blessing. David feels that this is a possibility, and we will remind him again in the fall to plan for this special event. We will ask Sharon to add that note to the calendar, so we will all remember to extend those invitations. It was pointed out that David will have a new family member at that time as well.
LOVE (Love Our Volunteers Evening): In our continuing efforts to recognize and honor our volunteers, the Temple has been hosting a Cocktail Party before our Annual Congregational Meeting. This has been a very nice event. We also try to honor our important volunteers with High Holy Day honors, but it is impossible to include everyone that we would like to. The suggestion was made that we not just wait until the HHD or the Annual Meeting to honor our volunteers. To that end, the Ritual Committee and Member Services will work together with David to plan a Friday evening service in the spring that will recognize the work of our volunteers. Date to be announced, although National Volunteer Week is in April. We hope that they could be somehow involved in the service, both with a blessing from the bima, and maybe with a speaker who would talk about the importance of their help on a day-to-day, and also an event basis. There might be a resource at URJ, or maybe one of our local politicians could speak to the topic.
The acronym LOVE might be used as the theme of that evening. Maybe David would ask some of our volunteers to speak about their experiences. We would send out specific invitations to our volunteers, whose names we would get by speaking to the Rabbi, committee chairs, the Board, the office staff, etc. Our goal is to further foster a culture of thanking our people for their invaluable assistance. I pointed out that when I look at the membership list, many, many of our members are already involved in some aspect of volunteerism.
Elaine suggested that perhaps we should start an “Honorable Menshen” list for each event, or pick a group each month to mention in the Templet or from the bima. Edna suggested that maybe we could give out a pin as a way of recognizing that these people make it possible for us to do the best possible job, and be the best possible Temple. We all agreed that certificates for volunteerism was not the way to go.
Good & Welfare- Happy Thanksgiving to us all
Respectfully submitted, Fran Kolin, V.P., Member Services
Memberhsip Committee Meeting Minutes
Date: August 21, 2007 Present: Fran Kolin, Barbara Schildcrout, Edna Rosen, Barbara Ringel, Suellen Eshed, Anna Rulnick, Bobby Kolin, Marcia Muskat, Elaine Lavine
Welcome Back
Welcomed back all our committee members. Hoped they had a great summer. Highlighted that this is our 60th Anniversary year, and it should be wonderful. As members of this committee, we are charged with acting as the eyes and ears of our Temple . We have to speak to people, listen to them, help them make connections that will make them happy, and help them make a place for our Temple in their lives.
Mets Game: Unfortunately, we started off with a problem. Jewish Heritage Day at Shea Stadium, the Mets game scheduled for Sunday, August 26th at 1:10 p.m., was changed to an 8:05p.m.start time. Several people have opted to not go to the game at that time. Ticket policies are making us exchange those unused and unsold tickets to the designated Exchange Date of Sunday, September 30th, which is the last game of the season, and will definitely remain a 1:10 start time. These tickets will be offered to those who cannot go to this Sunday’s game. I don’t think we should pursue this event next year. (Post-meeting note: only 9 of us showed up at the game.)
New Member Count: At this time, we have 9 new members. (Last year at this time, we had 38 new members, due to the doubling in size of the Religious School .) Three are in the Young Members category, 4 are Religious School families, and 2 are older adults. We haven’t received any information about terminations yet.
HHD at HUC: Our High Holy Day Services will be held primarily on the Lower Level of Hebrew Union College. This change from the Dental School has many people unsettled. Members of this committee will all do our part in reassuring our members that services will be lovely and meaningful as usual, and that transportation issues are being looked at by the Board of Trustees. A little cheerleading won’t hurt, and we want everyone to look forward to sharing this space and time with us. (Post-meeting note: no bus or jitney will be provided, but a notice in the Templet will ask that people who would like assistance with traveling will call the Temple , and be matched up with someone from the “East End Temple Taxi Team”, or something to that effect. Receipts for travel should be submitted to the Temple ’s Transportation Fund. This project may include members of the Youth Group, under the supervision of its president, Matthew Eshed.
20’s-30’s Luncheon on RH: One of our newer traditions will be repeated this year, as the 20’s/30’s Group will meet for a Rosh Hashanah Luncheon at the Temple immediately following morning services.
This allows these people the opportunity to form friendships, network, and welcome new faces. Anna Rulnick is the contact people for this event. If you know anyone who might be interested in attending, please let them know. The cost for this luncheon has generally been covered by some sponsorships within the group. As this group has grown significantly, it may be necessary for us to underwrite some of the expenses. Comp HHD Tickets for Conversion Students
As is our custom, I have reminded David to offer complimentary HHD tickets to his conversion students and their partners, and to provide the Temple Office with a list of takers. This shows our most welcoming aspect to those in the process of becoming Jews, and encourages them to maintain their connection with EET.
Flyer Stand/ Umbrella Bags: Over the summer, a new rack for flyers was purchased and placed outside the coat room in the Sanctuary Lobby. As you mingle with new people or members, please be sure to point out this newer version of the Infocart, which should have flyers on many upcoming events. The Temple will also be purchasing an Umbrella Bag Stand, so people can put wet umbrellas into plastic bags and hang them with their coats. Fewer lost umbrellas that way. Hopefully, these small courtesies add up to Customer Satisfaction, which equals Member Retention.
Shabbat Open House, Friday, September 7: Our big issue this time of year is our Shabbat Open House, scheduled for Friday evening, September 7th. It will start with a “meet and greet” at 5:30, followed by a 6:15 service. Then an Oneg Shabbat Reception to follow. I have asked the Rabbi, the Cantor, the Educational Director, the Administrator, the Board of Trustees, and this committee to attend. This is the only Shabbat service after Labor Day before the HHD. Hopefully, there will be prospective members with us, as well as people who have been away for the summer. Volunteers from this committee will perform a number of tasks…writing name tags for those who stop by to meet us, and signing people in on our Guest Info sheets, which we do when we hand out membership packets. We need this visitor info so we can make follow-up phone calls. These jobs will be done both at 5:30 and again after services. Suellen and Edna have agreed to be there for the 5:30 start.
Jewish Comfort Food Fair, Sunday, October 28: The JCFF Committee has had its first meeting. A few changes have been made to keep the event fresh. Take-out containers will be available at no charge so people may take their food with them. Suellen is the Chair of this event. We hope that the choice of this date, which is neither the NYC Marathon, nor Superbowl Sunday, brings us a larger crowd. Set-up will begin at 2 p.m., with serving to the public from 4-6 p.m. We encourage all Temple members to enjoy the cooking and baking (and shopping) expertise of our members.
Budget Line: I have asked for and received an increased budget line of $750 this year. With our tremendous increase in membership last year, we want to be prepared for whatever comes up.
Pride Parade: At this year’s Pride Parade, we had about a dozen people marching down 5th Avenue . Unfortunately, not all of them were Temple members. But wonderfully, our Rabbi was marching with the group. Our plans for a car never materialized, primarily because we had no driver. We hope to remedy this situation next year. However, our marchers did a great job of carrying both our EET banner and the banner of URJ, our umbrella organization. Our sidewalk cheering section was small but lively, and greeted them as they passed 17th Street and 5th Avenue . I had a sign that said EAST END TEMPLE HAS PRIDE! It got great feedback from many marchers. There were about 250 whistles, noisemakers, and chachkas handed out by our marchers, and each one had the Temple ’s name, website address, and the phrase “All are welcome”. This direct method of advertising puts our info right into the hands of people along the parade route. Dan Cherubin was the point person and a Marshall for this event. His recommendations for next year’s Parade include securing a car, increasing the number of people participating from our Temple and the number of souvenirs handed out, and possibly having shirts made to identify and unify our group. There was some discussion about the possibility of having shirt designs come from the art of the children of the Temple . The Pride Parade has generally been held on the last Sunday in June.
New Service Times: FYI, the first 3 services of the month will be at 6:15. The second 6:15 service will be a Synaplex service. The fourth service of the month will be a 7:30 service with Torah reading. Hopefully, this new, more standardized schedule will help people avoid mistakes in arrival time.
Good & Welfare: We have been notified that the Yom Kippur Break Fast will be free of charge, as opposed to the original plan put forth. Reservations still need to be made to attend, due to space limitations. A few generous donors have stepped up to help cover the costs of this wonderful event. A few more donors would be ideal.
Matthew Eshed is in the process of becoming an Eagle Scout. We wish him the best of luck, and expect to hear more about his accomplishments. <>
Respectively submitted, Fran Kolin, Chair V.P., Member Services
