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Executive Director’s Report
In February I celebrated my first anniversary as your Executive Director. This year has given me many wonderful opportunities to meet many of you, attend programs, services, board and committee meetings, as well as to get a feeling for the ‘spirit’ of Temple Shalom. I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many of you and participating in the breadth of programing that goes on in our One Family.
I am especially proud of our rebranding through which we created our new logo and tagline. We also revised our mission statement to reflect our new brand. We incorporated these changes into various communications, including our VOICE newsletter, emails to the congregation, letterhead and even staff business cards. I am deeply indebted to the members of the Marketing and Communications team for all the hard work done, the staff for their input and execution of these changes, and to the Board of Trustees for their support. More important than the changes to our visual and written presence, however, are the important changes in ‘actions’ we have undertaken. Most notably is the complete elimination of our dues structure which represented an old, transactional relationship between you and the Temple. Dues have now been replaced with the L’Shalom pledge system by which members choose to make a meaningful commitment which best reflects their ability to support their congregation. This changes our relationship to one of a mutual covenant between you and your temple. L’Shalom allows our members to form a relational connection to their congregation, while removing barriers others have felt prevented them from making a commitment to join you as part of our Temple family.
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The results as of this writing are heartwarming. Furthermore, we have 501 membership households and have 13 additional memberships already joining under the new pledge system. Based on this early experience, I’d have to say we are continuing to move in the right direction.
It has been an honor to join with all of you in strengthening our connections to one another.
