News from Our Leadership
| Executive Director's News |
 |
 |
 |
|
One of my discoveries since joining the staff at SSTTE is just how frenetic our building can be six days a week. And on the seventh day, our day of rest, the building continues to be busy with study and worship in our collegial Torah Circle, a Bar or Bat Mitzvah at our traditional Shabbat morning service, or a Havdalah service. On a typical weekday, 25 teachers begin to ready their rooms at 8 am, organizing their props for the arrival of their nursery school children. The day continues with meetings of Sisterhood, Helping Hands, Care 2 Connect, or "Seniors" in the library, social hall or parent's lounge; an army of volunteers filling our halls while they pack 100 shopping bags for the Interfaith Food Bank; and carpools of children coming and going for our afternoon religious school. The day often ends as late as 10pm when an Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah class, a Jewish Literacy discussion group, a Talmud study group or a Board meeting winds down and the last few cars pull out of the parking lot. The point of contact for each member differs with his or her interest and need. Over the last eight months I have developed a new appreciation for just how many different interests, needs and wants are being served in our building. I am learning how rich and diverse our family is, how many things we are to so many people, and how every member comes with expectations of what we should be. Many of you have recently participated in a Community Conversation during which you were asked, "How are we doing?" No surprise. Opinions varied. The very good news is that every participant is committed to a vision of how we can do better - a future that couples the best of our current traditions with our ever-changing needs and wants. Two of the tools critical to our success are better information about who we are and what we want, and the financial resources to make change happen. If we know more about each other, the unique experiences, interests, needs and history of each member, plus a better sense of the collective wants of our ever-changing population, we will be an even better community. As part of a new initiative to update and complete our database, we are asking every member of our community (new and old, including nursery school families) to complete the questionnaire recently added to our website. Every dimension of congregational life will benefit from better information, including our ability to:
We are working very hard to reduce the expenses as mandated by our 2009-10 budget, but our budget also depends on the voluntary support of our members to bridge the gap between dues and fees and our revenue target. Our Annual Fundraiser is a very important piece of that voluntary support, and we need every member to come, to show their support with a journal page and auction item, and to join in our celebration honoring Irving (of blessed memory) and Ruth Gershon, a very special family in our community.
|
