Now, on to business: At the last meeting of the temple’s board of trustees we had a poignant conversation amongst the board members as to why it is seemingly difficult for members to commit to participating on a committee. This introspective look not only discussed the congregation at large but also the participation of the board itself. There are so many great things that have happened and will be happening at temple over the balance of the year. We want to give the entire congregation the greatest opportunity to participate. We understand that not every event is appealing to all and that is why our Rabbi and board try to provide a wide array of events and services.

Several observations came out of this discussion:

1)  That the word “committee” or phrase “committee chair” immediately scares people off.

2)  That there needs to be better descriptions of both events and the work of a committee.

3)  That there should be more of an organic approach to staffing events and/or committees.

Keeping these observations in mind, temple leadership is going to make a few changes:

1)  We will try to never use the word “Committee” or “Chairperson” again when speaking of or trying to recruit to an event that is going to happen.

2)  Over the next couple of weeks to list out all events that are going to happen at Temple over the balance of our current fiscal year. We will provide detailed descriptions of the event and the expected time commitment. This information will be provided through all of the temples communication avenues we are currently using. In addition, we are going to place an events board in the hallway by the back door.

3)  We will build into our information distribution system a participant sign up area. Now I can’t say as to exactly how we are going to do this yet but the concept is  “organic volunteerism”. If a congregant has a clear idea of both the event and the time commitment for that event, one could commit to participating in the event with a much greater degree of ease. We will post sign ups and hopefully, if one friend sees another friend participating that will give them impetus to participate as well. We will not seek leaders but rather let the leadership of the event organically grow from within the participant group.

This is a new concept and we are certainly open to suggestion so please don’t hesitate to contact me with constructive advise. In the meantime keep an eye out for this new format and process. We hope that this will make things a bit easier for all.