Barbara Lax                  Alan Gelb

Avi Dresner                  Debra Kalmuss

Steve Ostrow

Alice Swersey                Others:

Joel Merker                  Ernestine Pantel

Jody Schoenfeld              Bart Schoenfeld

Florence Mehl          

Marilyn Cohen

Lydia Kukoff

Brenda Gevertz

Janet Carey

 

Alice called the meeting to order at 9:35AM. Janet moved and Barbara seconded that the minutes from the previous meeting be accepted. This carried.

 

Two visitors will be coming later in the meeting. Ernestine Pantel will talk about her initiatives with aging in the community and the Center for Faith Enrichment. Bart Schoenfeld will introduce our new abilities because of our expanded technology.

 

Alice has asked Linda Ziskind to join the Board. This appointment was accepted by the Board. She will be invited to start with the June meeting. Currently she is involved in doing the updates and the newsletters.

 

Summer meeting dates are as follows: Sunday, June 13 at 9:30AM, Thursday, July 29 from 7:30PM-9:30PM, and Sunday, August 29 at 9:30AM.

 

Or will be here June 19-20, which is Father’s Day weekend. That Saturday night there will be a film and a discussion led by Judith.

 

Alice read a thank you note from the guests from St. James who joined us for last month’s Friday night services with Or.

 

Lucille Salitan sent a letter regarding her membership. This was discussed. Barbara will contact her. The Board likes Lucille’s suggestion of a memorial book. It was suggested that perhaps Lucille might like to do this.

 

We reviewed the sections from the Planning document regarding membership and development. We will need someone to staff the table for the Chatham Street Fair, unless Gloria will be back by then. Florence will book the table for us. There was some discussion around publicizing what our children have done. There was a discussion about holding a picnic at the Synagogue which would include the children. We are doing pretty well regarding the recommendations for development, in that we are spending money that we do have currently. We will continue this discussion at the next meeting.

 

Ernestine spoke about some possibilities for Tikkun Olam that relates to aging. We could take part in a large project that AARP endorses, which creates walkable communities, we could have a small group that would commit to a meals-on-wheels route, or individually people could be drivers to take people to physician’s appointments. Janina Deppe will be contacting Kary Jablonka, the county’s aging director. Avi also suggested that we could also pair up with St. James on some local initiatives. Janina is also checking on this possibility. There was discussion on our possible involvement with the Center for Faith Enrichment, which would open up communications even more between the church and the synagogue. We can check our programs to see what is appropriate. This is a good idea, but we do need to get this out. There was a question as to what would be done if one group found something the other group was doing objectionable. The tag line regarding this group representing the Catholic churches in the county would be eliminated in printed materials. The consensus of the Board is that we need to review the minutes when Harry visited us, and we also need to look at the brochures again. We also need to consider our size as compared with the church size. We will have a more formalized discussion about this next meeting.

 

 

Jody reported that we now have a Business Investment Acct. in place of our restricted funds accounts. All Synagogue bills are paid up to date, although some of the construction charges will be due upon completion of these projects. So far the letter Alice sent to the congregation talking about these projects has netted $1600. There are some membership units still outstanding, and the deadline for this year’s dues falls on June 1, after which Jody will provide a full report. There was a discussion as to how much money we should keep as a “cushion.” We need to review our expenses and determine how much we have to spend. Janet brought up that the chairs in the synagogue are not working for George’s back and that she would like to possibly use some of the funds in the account earmarked for them for some good chairs for those with bad backs. She wants to check with the friends who have made that donation.

 

 

Ron Innerfield and Beth Harland submitted an application for membership. Jody moved and Janet seconded that this application be accepted. This carried unanimously.

 

Minutes were sent previously. The summer shindig is underway, the legacy brochure is done and there will be a soft launch of this with more coming later. The theme for the high holidays will be the Open Tent and Accessibility. Avi felt that perhaps the Development Committee could have been more involved in raising some funds for the improvements. There also is the on-going plant sale this summer.

 

Minutes were sent previously. The budget for expenses was submitted and approved. There was a question about the ability to do Special Updates. The last time the Chatham Printers was used, the bill seemed high, and there was some discussion about purchasing a color printer to be able to do some of our printing ourselves, since we should be able to get a decent printer for about $400. There was some conversation regarding the setup of the weekly updates. Linda is willing to do whatever we want; she just needs to be advised.

 

Steve wished to formalize the approval from George Grant to have him repair the driveway. This should cost about $4000. Jody moved and Barbara seconded that these funds be approved. This carried. We are currently investigating the need for a generator, but are seeking additional information on this, so the committee is not prepared to make a proposal on this right now. Janina Deppe looked at the slope on Saturday and had some questions re: fulfilling the federal handicapping requirements for the pathway down to the rear. Joel will talk with Sam about this matter.

 

Bart showed us the new computer. It is fast and we have Internet access and a wireless router. This would allow anyone to use their own laptop in the Synagogue. There are three accounts: Administrator (password protected), General and Guest. The Administrator is the only one who can add or delete software. We will be getting a case for the computer. Brenda offered to donate a case.

 

 

 

 

Carl Rheins will be presenting next Sunday, and there will be a film with a discussion led by Judith on June 19. Programs for August are not set yet. There has been some discussion as to have an initiation of the new walkway---perhaps with a July 4 picnic which could include volleyball and other games. The Tikkun will be held on the 19^th at Larry and Janie’s house at 7:30. Blintzes, etc. will be served. There is a “core” group that we know of who will be attending. PR has not been good on this, and we will try to get something out on this early this week.

 

There has not been another meeting since the last Board meeting. It was requested that a short discussion regarding the interest of mentors to assist in a summer reading program and collecting of children’s books to distribute to children in the community. Alice will ask about this at the Tikkun. There was some discussion about what Tikkun Olam is already being done within our community.

 

 

The interaction with the rabbinical students was very positive. Another meeting will be scheduled for the committee very soon.

 

We are trying to get a calendar together by August.

 

The Chesed Committee has come up with a mission statement. This will be discussed by the Board at a later meeting.

 

Michael Madison is still working on ironing out the contract regarding the cemetery.

 

The meeting adjourned at 12:30.

 

Respectfully submitted,