Executive Committee meeting minutes, March 2, 1994

JEWISH FEDERATION OF LAS VEGAS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING MARCH 2, 1994 PRESENT ABSENT Dr. Allan Boruszak Daryl Alterwitz Amy Boruszak Michael Cherry Dan Goldfarb Sandy Mallin Art Marshall Dr. Neville Pokroy Leslie Simon Douglas Unger Gene Greenberg Michael Novick Dr. Marvin Perer STAFF Ronni Epstein Sharon Heiman Suzan Loeb I. WELCOME Dr. Allan Borusazak welcomed everyone to the March Executive Committee meeting, and asked for acceptance of the Minutes of January 11, 1994. Dr. Marv Perer moved to accept the Minutes of January 11, 1994, Michael Novick seconded and the motion carried. Allan said he was extremely concerned about the lack of attendance to the Federation Board meetings. He said it was difficult to conduct the business of this organization when we meet only our quorum by barely one individual. He said his other concern was that our community wide programs have not been supported by members of our Board. Allan said we have had two lectures for the Goldberg Lecture Series with virtually no Board participation. Allan said he realized everyone was busy but felt Committee members are the leaders and it was very important for everyone to at least support those programs with which we are directly involved. Allan said March 2 0th is our Super Sunday Phone-a-thon and every member of the Executive Committee and all of our standing committees needs to participate. Allan requested that since many of the Executive Committee are also Committee Chairman for them to personally contact every member of their committees and ask them what time they want to participate. Allan said to call Beverly at the Federation office with the times selected. Allan requested everyone to fill out the Phone Volunteer Sign-Up Form this evening. He said Marta Sorkin the Chairman of Super Sunday is doing a good job. Allan said he would like to see all of the beneficiary agencies be phone volunteers. Ronni said there would be 30 phones and 5 shifts. 1 II. CAMPAIGN REPORT Allan called on Marv Perer to give the Campaign Report. Marv said he was happy to report the 1994 Campaign was at $813,017 with over 3 06 cards in. He said that was almost $3 00,000 ahead of last year's Campaign, card-for-card, and reflected a 48% increase, card-for-card from last year. Marv said with almost 900 cards still to be covered, there is a potential for an additional $300,000 based on their 1993 gifts. He said further potential could be found among the almost 1,000 new names entered recently onto our mailing list. Marv said that although the Campaign was doing well there was still have a lot of ground to cover. Marv said he has sent a notice to all solicitors asking for cards to be completed and returned to the office by March 14th. He encouraged everyone to complete those solicitations rather than turning them back uncovered to be called on Super Sunday. Marv said Neville Pokroy and Harris Waters reported that the doctors have been covering their cards. He said to date, almost $165,000 has been raised by Maimonides, and 29 new members have joined the division. The Division held an event on February 20th at the TPC with guest speaker Theo Dov Golan, MD, the Israeli equivalent of the United States Surgeon General. Marv said Lenard Schwartzer has been overseeing the lawyers. Marv said Neil and Elaine Galatz will be having a Brandeis event at their Ranch this Sunday evening with John Rothmann as the guest speaker. Marv said the Division has raised almost $50,000 to date, and boasts 10 new members, and he believes even more will join after the event Sunday. Marv said Jerry Welt's Pacesetters Division has been doing well. He said cards have been solicited and returned. Marv said Jerry has been following up with phone calls and memos to his committee members to ensure they complete their cards. Marv said Melanie and Gene Greenberg have expanded their Community Division Committee and the balance of their cards have been assigned and solicited. He said the committee has agreed to serve as members of the committee for the Community Division Event. Marv said this will be held on Saturday, April 23rd in celebration of anyone contributing $125 or more to the Federation's 1994 Campaign. He said the committee will be meeting Tuesday evening to finalize plans for the event. Marv said "Bubbe Meisis" a one woman show, written and performed by Ellen Gould, will be held at Alexis Park Hotel, followed by a light dessert reception. 2 Marv said we have over 700 new names and 99% of them will probably be Jewish. Mike Cherry asked who was to do the soliciting at the Brandeis Event Sunday March 6th. Beverly Eisen said Lenny Schwartzer would probably be doing the solicitation. Allan suggested an announcement be placed in the Jewish Reporter of all new Maimonides and Brandeis members. Melanie said a list should be printed thanking all our Brandeis and Maimonides members for their pledges. Allan said he called some Doctors not on our Federation lists, and of the 10 calls he made several are new members of Maimonides and they all gave a gift. Allan said there is 1 month to go to finish the Campaign and we need to be aggressive. Marv asked everyone to get their cards covered and in to the office. III. WOMEN'S DIVISION REPORT Allan called on Amy Boruszak to give the Women's Division Report. Amy said that last year Women's Division closed at $319,000. She said currently they were $333,000 with over 145 gifts and many still to close. Amy said they were $100,000 ahead of this time last year, which reflects a 40% increase, card for card. She said all cards with giving histories and targeted "0"'s have been assigned and are being returned. She added that the balance, and new targets will be covered on Super Sunday. Amy said the Pomegranate Event held at the D.I. last Thursday had 30 women in attendance of which 17 are Pomegranates. She said this was a growing division with 7 new members this year. Amy said Michael Medved made an excellent presentation and speaks on other topics, some of which would interest other groups. Amy said the Main Event Luncheon will be held on Tuesday, April 5 with Midge Costanza as the speaker. She said the minimum to attend has been raised to $365 and many gifts are increasing to that level. She said the invitations will be out by the beginning of next week. Ronni said a special guest at the Pomegranate Luncheon was Jean Neiditch the founder of Weight Watchers who gave her first gift to the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas. 3 IV. HEBREW HIGH AFFILIATION Allan said in the past the Las Vegas Hebrew High has been a separate agency which has received an allocation from this Federation's annual Campaign. Allan called on Melanie Greenberg, President of Hebrew High, to make a presentation regarding a request of change of status. Melaine said Hebrew High was very successful but their biggest problem was getting all congregations to participate. She said their was a meeting at Temple Beth Sholom 2 weeks ago with Rabbis and representatives and they discussed the possibility of coming under the Federation umbrella as a committee. They said each Rabbi would meet with their 8th graders for 1 hour at Hebrew High followed by a 1 hour meeting of all students together for the program. Allan asked how much last year's allocation was. Amy said $1,000 was allocated for 1993. Mike Cherry asked what their entity would be. Ronni said they would be a committee of the Federation. Allan said the Chairman of the committee would be appointed by the Federation President. Allan said the classes would be in the Federation Building rather than a temple. Ronni said the problem is Hebrew High is becomes overly associated with the temple where classes are held making it difficult for other congregations to send their teenagers. Mike Cherry asked what happens if someone doesn't want to join a synagogue. Ronni said Hebrew High is not doing confirmations - only giving building space for Synagogues to use for their classes. Ronni said there was enough room on the 4th floor to house Hebrew High and perhaps B'nai B'rith would loan Hebrew High their Board Room. Melanie said they have a mailing list of over 3 00 young people. Mike Novick said the Director of Hebrew High the person would now become an employee of Federation (part-time) and would come under the Personnel Committee. Daryl Alterwitz said the insurance representative would need to be notified about liability. Allan asked for a motion to make Hebrew High a committee of the Jewish Federation. Dan Goldfarb moved to form a Hebrew High Committee of the Jewish Federation to run the Hebrew High effective July 1, 1994. Marv Perer seconded. After discussion motion carried. V. MATZOH FUND Allan said the Jewish Family Services Agency provides money for Passover food to people who face hard times. He said this year Passover falls during Primacy and JFSA cannot solicit for funds. Allan said Bill Feldman, the Director of JFSA, said his Passover allocation is $1,500. Allan suggested that since we were in 4 Primacy perhaps the Federation could request members of the community to contribute Passover food to the JFSA. Allan recommended a special allocation from the community reserves of $750 and to also ask the community for food. Dan Goldfarb moved the Federation contribute $750 to be used for the Matzoh Fund and to develop a program for collecting food for Passover. Marv seconded the motion and motion carried. VI. CAMPAIGN DIRECTOR Allan said there are 2 very good applicants for Campaign Director and we are close to a commitment from one. He said hopefully by the next Board Meeting he would have something good to report. VII. AMERICORPS Allan called on Ronni to explain Americorps. Ronni said some members of the Committee may be aware that this past September President Clinton signed into law the National and Community Service Trust Act which created the Corporation for National and Community Service. She said through the Council of Jewish Federations, Federations are being given an opportunity to submit requests for 50 grants totaling 49 million dollars. Ronni said this meant we would be asking to participate in developing programs which will provide volunteer opportunities for our community. Ronni said one of the items on the Jewish Family Services Agency's wish list was to have a volunteer Service Coordinator. She said we must take two people and the grant would pick-up 60% of the cost and the community responsibility would be 40% of which two-thirds can be in soft costs such as office space. Ronni said even if we apply we may not receive a grant as we would be vying with every Federation that enters a proposal. After discussion Hike Novick moved to make an application for The Council of Jewish Federation's National Service program. Daryl Alterwitz seconded and motion carried. VIII. GOOD AND WELFARE Mike Cherry announced the Coalition of Jewish Educators were revising their letter and it would be forwarded to the Federation for our cover letter as soon as possible. 5 Amy said the Public Broadcast System will air a program on Leslie Simon's father in April. Eva Kallick announced Channel 13 is airing a program entitled, "The Making of Schnidler's List" March 12th at 4:30 p.m. She said the programming expense is $600.00. Eva said Channel 13 will donate money from their advertising, over their cost, to the Federation. IX. ADJOURNMENT Allan adjourned the meeting. 6