This week, I began the start of my eighth year as CEO of our Jewish Federation. I feel so lucky to be working here in Indianapolis and being able to do the work that I have been doing since 1995. This has been an incredibly busy 7 years. Here are some highlights:
Together, we have raised our Annual Campaign from $3.5 million to $4.3 million.
We successfully ran a Life & Legacy program with an expectancy of more than $30 million of endowments into our Jewish Community.
We conducted the first Jewish Community Study in more than 80 years and learned that our Jewish community is twice as large as we thought it was and that we have a median age of 35 with more than 6,500 children.
We completed the first Strategic plan for our Federation in a decade and restructured our P&A process to meet the needs identified in both the Study and the Strategic Plan.
Every day, we serve more than 2,000 Jewish community members through our Federation and agencies.
This is just the tip of the iceberg and there is so much more that we need to do to help strengthen and grow our Jewish community.
During the last few weeks, we have had some vital community meetings. On Aug. 17, we hosted the joint Community Briefing with the Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council, which explored how the Jewish community and our community agencies like JCRC, are combatting antisemitism while pursuing racial justice & equity. The internal conversation was an important step in laying the foundation for members of our community to get involved in fighting bigotry and hate. In case you missed it, this meeting was recorded and is available here.
On Aug. 24, we held a Countering Active Threat Training (CATT). Delivered by Grant Mendenhall, Safe Indy’s Community Security Director, the comprehensive training program went through how to counter an active threat event, which was specifically developed for institutions and Houses of Worship. If you missed this meeting, it was recorded and is available here.
As we begin to gear up for the High Holidays, we are offering a community conversation at 7:30 p.m. this coming Monday, Aug. 31, titled “Finding Spirituality and Virtual Balance. During this meeting, some of our local clergy will share their personal perspectives for the upcoming High Holiday experience. Registration is required: http://bit.ly/spiritualconversation. Details are on the flyer below.
Speaking of High Holidays, the Federation has been busy preparing a resource and service webpage for all of our High Holidays coming up. When we went virtual this Spring, we offered a wonderful Passover resource page. We had such a great response, that we decided to beef up a High Holidays page that offers resources and a detailed listing of what is going on in our community, which includes programs and services from our synagogues and other Jewish organizations. We hope it gives you everything you need to know in order to have a safe and healthy New Year at home.
Also coming up is our annual Super Sunday on Sept. 13. Super Sunday is a powerful day when volunteers, donors, and community members come together to make a difference. It is the largest one-day phone-a-thon fundraising effort of the year, with every gift supporting our community’s 2020 Annual Campaign. These are very challenging times and we need your support more than ever by making sure our Jewish community organizations are still here to help.
There are two ways to help – all from the comfort of your own home! You can volunteer to call community members for the 2020 Annual Campaign, or you can make your 2020 Annual Campaign gift before Super Sunday. More information on Super Sunday can be found here.
Please take a look at our Community Calendar to see all of exciting programs we have available for the whole community, including the Rosh Hashana Virtual Cooking Class with James Beard Award-winning Chef Michael Solomonov and the virtual Community Kvell with celebrity guests.
And lastly, I have some great news to share with you from PJ Library. Our PJ Library program received a grant from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation to promote growth in our diverse community. You can read the press release here.
