Program Swap

• Programming is not done on the fly or at the last minute.• What is old is new again BUT what worked before may not work at another time or place.
  • You can’t please all of the people all of the time.–Abraham Lincoln• Small groups may bring successful programs

• Sisterhood Name & City:   Beth Tikvah, Toronto
• Person to contact for more information:   Arlene Anthony <arleneanthony@rogers.com>
• Special goal or purpose:   To bring in young women and offer a service to them
• Target Audience:   Open to congregation members, daughters, daughters-in-law
• Approx cost to run the program:    $500 for 4 sessions
• Approx cost per attendee:    None
• Briefly explain the program:    Program started in March
  Went through bulletins for past births to young members.
  Contacted members to get contact information
  Honored grandchildren born in the previous year
  Organized 4 sessions:
  1. Stroller Fitness
  2. What to Do in an Emergency
  3. Massage for Baby
  4. Salsa Dancing for Moms and Babies

• Sisterhood Name & City:   Cong. Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas, DeWitt
• Person to contact for more information:   Nancy Belkowitz <cbscssiterhood@google.com>
• Special goal or purpose:   An added twist to the annual beginning of the year pot luck; money raised for Torah Fund and camperships
• Target Audience:    All Members. The pot luck, held at a members house, brings together women of all ages
• Approx cost to run the program:    None
• Approx cost per attendee:    None
• Briefly explain the program:   Members donated purses—old, never used, etc.—ahead of time. At the event, people previewed the bags. Some of the bags were auctioned off, other “just” sold.
• Comments: The idea for this event came from Richmond, VA, WLCJ Affiliate.
  While this program cannot run every year, there is great enthusiasm months in advance both for donating and for buying.

• Sisterhood Name & City:   Women’s Network, Agudat Achim, Schenectady
• Person to contact for more information:   Hillary Fink <hbean5891@aol.com>
• Special goal or purpose:   Annual major fundraiser
• Target Audience:   All members and guests(men are not officially invited; however, they are welcome to attend.
• Approx cost to run the program:    approx. $2500
• Approx cost per attendee:    $40-50 + additional donations
• Briefly explain the program:
  Typically this donors is a brunch or dinner, with a program and presentation of the woman of valor award. This year it was a dinner on Rosh Hodesh with a program called “The Music in Me!” Two members of our Rosh Hodesh group wrote a short “ceremony” for the woman of valor away to someone with more than 50 years of service. For the entertainment, we brought in the three a appella groups from a local college. (It was great bringing the community in!) Each group learned one Hebrew songs just for us. Dinner was international buffet stations catered by our fabulous caterer. The combination of everything brought a lot of positive feedback.
  Used written program distributed to all to publicize the year’s events and services provide by Women’s Network

• Sisterhood Name & City:   Temple Adath Yeshurun, Syracuse
• Person to contact for more information:   Ruth Borsky
• Special goal or purpose:   To raise money for fiscal year
• Target Audience:   all generations
• Approx cost to run the program:
• Approx cost per attendee:    $40 minimum includes chicken dinner, donation and entertainment
• Briefly explain the program:
  Program was 8-piece orchestra (professional non-union) and dancers from the local Fred Astaire Dance Studio
  Room set up with assign seats and everyone got a place card with a “secret” number to be used in the silent auction.
  Prize tables set up w/ door prized valued from $5-25.
  Raffles purchased individually or an arm’s length for $10 for items valued from $25-50.
  Silent auction for items valued at $50-4000.
  The dancing was a la “Dancing with the Stars.”
  The orchestra and dancers were a big hit.

• Comments: We raised over $4000 with only 75 people attending. It was the first time we invited men to come and we did offer free babysitting.

• Sisterhood Name & City:   Temple Adath Yeshurun, Syracuse
• Person to contact for more information:   Rita Canter
• Special goal or purpose:   Fund raising and giving out Mishloach Manot
• Target Audience:   Open to congregation
• Approx cost to run the program:    varies
• Approx cost per attendee:   Profits approx. $3400
• Briefly explain the program:
  Form sent to all congregation
  $3 per gift
  $180 to send to entire congregation
  Each person gets one bage and a list of people who gave in his/her honor
  Someone underwrote purchase of items for bags.
  Bags included: grogger, humantashen, candy, raisins.
  Kids helped assemble bags.

Program Name: Vashtis Banquet

• Sisterhood Name & City:   Beth Tikvah, Toronto
• Person to contact for more information:   Geri Stewart <ghstewart@rogers.com>
• Special goal or purpose:  Pre-Purim program to bring in women of all ages
• Target Audience:   Open to all women
• Approx cost to run the program:    varies
• Approx cost per attendee:   $18 but too low
• Briefly explain the program:
  Catered by Sisterhood Persian and Middle Eastern foods buffet dinner
  Room decorated and Persian music playing
  Had around periphery of room with women going from station to station activities:
  1. story teller
  2. belly dancer
  3. boutiques
  4. nail painting
  5. henna
  6. makeup

• Sisterhood Name & City: Presented at the former Temple Beth El, Tonawanda, for Sisterhood Shabbat ‘07
• For more information contact: Lois Silverman, WLCJ Internet Coordinator, former WL Program Chair, <ltsilverman@gmail.com>
• Type of Meeting: Sisterhood Shabbat
  General Meeting
  Large or small group
• Participants: any number depending on size of audience
• Time: determined by what happened that year and the length of time given to “sharing”
• Cost: only for copying material if done on Shabbat.
  if done during the week, a PowerPoint presentation would be very effective
• Preparation:
  1. Decide on what year to be explored. Could be year of Sisterhood’s affiliation with WLCJ–for Tonawanda, 1921.
  2. Go to a world almanac or similar reference (such as http://www.infoplease.com/) and search for the year. Compose a list of major and/or interesting events which occurred during the year.
  Example: In 1921
  •  first Miss America was crowned–Margaret Gorman from Washington, DC;
  •  first internment at Tomb of Unknown Soldier of WWI unknown occurred on Nov. 11;
  •  U.S. Congress declared WWI ended on July 2;
  •  The Sheik debuted and established star Rudolph Valentino (Rodolfo Guglielmi)
  as cinema’s best-known lover;
  •  Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction;
  •  Zona Gale’s “feminist” drama Miss Lulu Bett won the Pulitzer Prize in drama–first woman to do so;
  •  Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was arrested on manslaughter charges, leading to the establishment of the “Hayes
      Office” and the Hollywood Producers Code to maintain morality in films
  •  Vitamins D and E were discovered
  3. Choose which events are most interesting, most pertinent, most appropriate for audience and event and research them a bit more. Use first person, prime sources if available. Research may be done on-line since appropriate links to details are often available.
  4. Add appropriate Jewish content using such sources as World of Our Fathers by Irving Howe, How We Lived by Irving Howe and Kenneth Libo, We Lived There Too by Kenneth Libo and Irving Howe, and Everything But Money by Sam Levenson.
  5. Add appropriate local content using synagogue and/or Sisterhood archives and personal accounts, if available.
  6. Organize segments. Make an introduction and conclusion. Insert transitional commentary–optional.
  7. Divide segments into short reading using segments and a few paragraphs for each reading. The number of segments is determined by the length of the program. Number each segment in the order of presentation
  8. Give copies of one numbered segment to one person in audience making sure they are near the front of the room and/or near a microphone, if the room and audience are large. They are not to share what is in the segment with others, and it may be indicated that she doesn’t look at it before hand. No rehearsals are necessary and it is more fun if each reader does it “cold.”
  9. Introduce program and then have segments read in numerical order.
  10. Give conclusion and open up for discussion. Trigger questions depend upon the happenings of the year chosen.

For example: 1921
1. What is the significance to women of the events of 1921, that is the first Miss America Pageant, the 2 Pulitzer Prizes being won by women (and the subject matter of those works), and the rise of Rudolph Valentino? Remember that women has been granted the right to vote just two years before?

2. What personal memories do you have of that time? What have you been told about that time?