Keeping Connected   March 2020

Well, we are almost through the winter. Fingers crossed for an easy finale to winter.  Wanted to let you know that we are making progress on our kitchen updates.

• To date, we have raised about $4800 toward this project.
• About 3 weeks ago, a group of members came in on a Thursday morning and cleaned our attic space and kitchen of unnecessary items, most of which we were able to dispose of. A special thank you to Larry Cohen, Mitch Hyatt, Gerry Miller, Sandy Moore, Joanna Myers, Judy & Scott Reiter, Laura Rodman, and Bob & Pat Schneider for your time!

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Keeping Connected   February 2020

It’s been a while since I have discussed security. You heard a lot about it at the beginning of this year, around the high holidays. I want everyone to be aware that we are still actively working on ensuring the safety of our community and that it did not end at the high holidays. Two significant activities that are in process are as follows:

• We have established a procedure for Security Greeters for our Shabbat services on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings. This procedure has been approved by the board and the security committee is now hosting 2 training sessions on these procedures, on February 2 from 1-2 pm and on March 12 from 7-8 pm.  I hope you will consider attending one of these sessions. It is truly important that we all understand the balance between being welcoming and ensuring a safe community.More

Keeping Connected   January 2020

I want to thank everyone who contributed to our kitchen update project over the last month. So far, we have raised about $2500. There will be more opportunities to contribute through the new year as well. I am really excited about the possibility of obtaining new appliances and improving the overall usability of our kitchen. There are so many people who will benefit from this, including our school, Shalomites, Sisterhood, Brotherhood, and those members who rent our building for celebrations of life cycle events.

In addition to the kitchen, we are looking to improve the look of the sanctuary and social hall.  We are in the process of obtaining quotes for painting and new carpeting. We will be working closely with the House Committee, Beautification Committee, and Mishkan Advisory Group to ensure our sanctuary is maintained as a sacred space with these changes.

At the beginning of February, we are going to dedicate an afternoon to deep cleaning the kitchen. We are in the process of selecting a date for this. If you are interested in helping, please let me know.

I want our building to be a place we are proud to be a part of and although our community provides me (and I am sure you as well) with the highest level of satisfaction, our building does need some cosmetic improvements. It will not all happen at once but I truly hope we can find a way to start the process.

I want to wish you a Happy New Year and lots of health & happiness in 2020!

Keeping Connected    December 2019

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and hope you were able to spend some quality time with family and friends. By now, you have received the letter for our Annual Campaign. As you saw, we are looking to improve the quality of our kitchen. This is a long overdue project and very much a necessity. Our appliances are old and not energy-efficient. We need a dishwasher and we need to think about the layout of our kitchen and how we can make it more functional. Although this project is going to require funds, the intent of the project is to provide one new way we can improve our ability to bring in additional revenue to our temple.  With a properly functional kitchen, members will be more apt to hold life cycle celebrations at our temple and we will may be able to rent out our kitchen to a cottage industry, such as a baker.More

Keeping Connected   November 2019

I hope you all had meaningful high holidays and were able to spend some quality time with friends and family. One item that has been on my mind for quite a while has been the survey we conducted last fall. If you remember, we asked you to participate in a 2-part survey and you may have been wondering what ever happened with the data we generated. I do not want you to think that participation in this survey was wasted energy because it was not. A report has been generated which summarizes the different aspects of Congregation Shalom we delved into, including ritual, youth, our Rabbi, financial elements, youth education, adult education, leadership, our extended family personality, congregational values, volunteerism, and communication. Our goal was to check the pulse of each of these, knowing that our next steps would be to take action where needed.More

Keeping Connected    September 2019

It’s hard to believe it’s the end of August. As always, the summer went by far too quickly. Last month, I told you about how hard we have been working to step up security at Congregation Shalom. I want you to be aware of some new procedures that will be in place for the High Holidays. These procedures will be a change from what we are used to, but are being implemented to provide a safer environment in our sanctuary while providing a welcoming environment for our guests. In the next few weeks, all of our members will receive “passes” for High Holidays. Please note that these are not “tickets” and have no monetary value. We will be mailing these passes to each family, providing one pass for every member of the household over 13. When you arrive for High Holiday services, you will be asked to show either your pass or your key card at the front door. If you are bringing guests with you to services, you can just let us know and we will send you additional passes; more information will be forthcoming on how to do this. Non-members will be asked to sign in and will then receive a pass. This will allow us to (1) know who is in our building and (2) obtain the necessary contact information so we can follow up with these guests after the High Holidays are over. I hope you will bear with us and be patient as we implement these new procedures. Please know that this type of practice is happening at many Reform and Conservative congregations throughout the country.

We are also going to be providing a Security Update and practicing an evacuation drill on Sunday September 8 at 4:00 PM in the sanctuary. There will be more information coming on this event. We are hoping for as many people as possible to attend so we can have an effective and meaningful evacuation drill. Note: we will provide food and you will be home in time for the 8:20 Patriots game.  So, for now, please just save the date.

I hope you enjoy the remainder of summer and I look forward to seeing you all in September.

Liz