Every year the Religious School is charged with raising funds to supplement our tuition and fees and the generous subsidy we receive from the Congregation.  This year we are planning two fundraisers.  One is our traditional activity of preparing Mishloach Manot bags to be distributed during Purim, fulfilling the Mitzvah on Purim, to send two items of food to at least one person.

Our second fundraiser is this letter.  The Education Committee is sure that, when you read what we plan to do with these funds, you will enthusiastically support us.

One of the first things we plan to do is honor our educators in the Religious School.  Did you know that 11 of our 22 faculty members have spent at least 18 (Chai) years in Jewish Education?  To recognize their dedication to our children, we are planning a Sunday brunch and celebration towards the end of school on Sunday, November 7th.  SHHH……can you keep a secret?  We’re inviting Ester Greenblatt and Elaine Brand to return to also be recognized at this event.

This Fundraising Letter will afford us the opportunity to honor our Chai-Lifelong Jewish educators, while tapping onto the theme of Lifelong Learning promoted by the synagogue Gala this past spring.  At the brunch, we will formally honor all the Religious School educators who have dedicated their lives (Chai) 18 years or more to Jewish Education.

Everyone in the Congregation will be able to participate in this event by decorating a leaf for the Religious School’s “temporary” Etz Chayim (Tree of Life) that will be prominently located in the synagogue. Moreover, your donations will go toward the purchase of a permanent leaf on the synagogue Tree in honor of our educators.

In addition to honoring our educators at the Chai-Lifelong Learning brunch, the funds that we raise from this letter will also be used towards:

• Subscription  to ‘One Call’ or a similar service which allows you to register as many phone numbers as you wish to receive automated announcements when, for example, school is canceled due to snow or power outages.  Imagine how nice it would be for your cell phone to ring and to hear a message that the school is closed because we have no power, something that in fact happened last spring.  If the power hadn’t come back on at 5:10 pm, we would have been waiving you off in the parking lot!  How much better it would have been for you to have received a phone call before you left your driveway!  And if you remember, this outage was caused by a fire at Rolling Road and Old Keene Mill.  We could have sent you a message telling you about the fire so that those of you who got stuck in the traffic mess could have found alternate routes to the synagogue. This service should eliminate any need for a phone tree.
• Purchase additional books and materials for Junior Congregation/Learners’ Minyan.  These are materials that benefit the whole school and indeed the entire Congregation.
• Supplement our students’ health and welfare by providing more of our teachers with CPR and First Aid training.  This training costs approximately $75 per teacher. Luckily some of us are certified from sources outside the school, but we’d like to get more people certified in case of a medical emergency.
Provide additional faculty development opportunities as well as additional resource materials.

These are just some of the things we would like to do if we can raise the funds.  (Our minimum fundraising commitment is in fact already figured into our budget; this is how we would spend anything we raise on top of this minimum amount.)  We see a real benefit in being able to provide these additional opportunities for our teachers and services for you.

 
Through the generosity of the congregation, we did not have to increase our tuition and fees this year.  But if our enrollment declines, so does our income.  Yet our expenses do not decrease to meet that decline in income.  We cannot, for example, eliminate any teacher positions; as it is, half our teachers are professionals who actually volunteer their time altogether or receive a very minimal stipend.

 
We ask, therefore, that you give as generously as you can.  Help us continue the theme of this year’s Gala, Lifelong Learning, and join us as we celebrate our fabulous Chai-Lifelong Religious School educators.

Suggested contribution amounts are:

$18.00 – Chai
$36.00 – Double Chai
$54.00 – Triple Chai

 (Or whatever donation you would like to give – Thank you!)

For every $18, your family will receive a leaf to decorate that will then be posted on our Etz Chayim (Tree of Life), as discussed above.
If you would like to give a more substantial donation to the Religious School please check here and we will call you personally.  
Thank you for your time and consideration.

Amy Brener - V.P. Education (Religious School)
Sharone Weizman - Education Director