The Latest from BZBI

|

Summary of September 2021 Board Minutes

By

January 20, 2022

BZBI Board Minutes

September 9, 2021 meeting, 7:00 pm

  • Israel Engagement Committee report from Sheldon Bernick: Shabbat speaker, David Marcu, the CEO of Israel Elwyn spoke on Disabilities in Israel in October.
  • Community Committee report from Eileen Dwell:
    • The reading buddies program, chaired by Liza Hillel and Heidi George, which matches young children with congregant reading buddies continues and has been a great success.
    • Carmie Levine and Gwen Freedman are chairing Mishpahot get-togethers that represent the diverse community of BZBI.
    • Gail Kroop, Jill Freeman and Eileen Dwell are making calls to BZBI Families who experience a death, illness, birth of a child or other significant event in which we can be of some support.
    • A MahJongg group, with lessons and all levels of play has started on Wednesdays at 5pm.
    • Our knitting group is meeting the last Monday of each month via zoom, knitting hats and scarves for housing insecure folks from Project Home and Bethesda Project.
    • Until our kitchen renovation is complete a kosher caterer is providing us with 24 quarts of soup and rolls for our Stocking Up meals. Liza Hillel, Gwen Freedman, Carmie Levine, and Eileen Dwell are making deliveries, but are always looking for additional delivery help.
    • Yesod Dinners are planned for this upcoming year on December 17; January 21; February 18; March 18; May 20. Dinners are virtual until in-person dinner are deemed safe.
    • Volunteer Appreciation Event is virtual on Thursday, December 2 at 5:30.
  • Youth & Family Committee report from Anne Albert:  Neziner Hebrew School has started in person with COVID protocols in place. The Committee is trying to reactivate the school PTA with new volunteers.
  • Membership Committee report from Sharon Greis: BZBI has 22 new member units as of this date. The Revitalized Member Buddy Program is in place with 14 confirmed BZBI members who have agreed to participate. We now have 8 new Member units who need Buddies, so we will be recruiting additional members to share in the program.
  • Early Education Committee report from Arielle Kerstein: ECE enrollment is full for this year.  Financial changes for the ’22-’23 season were discussed.
  • Adult Programming Committee report from Sarah Fleishman: Information about Adult education programs can be found on the BZBI website, under Learn/Adult Education.
  • Human Relations Committee report from Gail Kroop: HR is working on the insurance plan for our staff.

Nikki introduced Jess Simon who will lead our governance committee.

  • Clergy report from Rabbi Abe: We learned from our hybrid High Holy Days services how to improve the technology going forward. Rabbi Abi is supervising a rabbinical student to organize our congregant Torah readers.
  • Executive Director’s report from Lynne Balaban: She commended the staff on making the High Holy Days a smooth experience for all, whether in person or on Zoom. She is working with staff on open enrollment for insurance for the new season which starts Oct. 1.
  • Development report from Suzanne Litke: We are off to a good start for Annual Giving, and hope the new fiscal year also brings us an increase in percent participation.
  • Finance committee report from Daniel Cohen:  ECE income has out-paced our budget, as has Annual Giving and High Holy Days tickets but both memberships and Neziner enrollments are behind our expectations. Rabbi Max is making calls to try to increase Neziner enrollment.  We did have a major gift that was designated for the Tallit closet, so that addressed the over budget plan for that project.  Does the Tallit closet design allow space for David Haas’s command central?  Yes, it does.  We have already spent almost half of the Parsonage improvement budget, but all other expenses are in-line or slightly under budget.  Our current budget deficit manageable and we will break even if membership reaches 88% and Neziner enrollment reaches 70% or our target income. We are waiting for loan forgiveness for our second PPP loan, but probably will not be able to take advantage of the Employer Retention Credit Matt had mentioned, as our PPP loans did cover all our salaries. The Finance Committee will be working on our investment and conflict of interest policies in the coming months.
  • Visioning update from Gary Bramnick:  We are transitioning to the implementation stage of the visioning process.  We should be able to start work on this in October.
  • Tikkun Olam report from Rosalie Kurz:  Rachel Beck will now co-chair this committee, and will deal mostly with programs for younger members of the congregation and will oversee the Power Program.  The Library buddy system is working really well for many projects in addition to the actual reading: some drama, cleaning books, giving kids confidence in their own presence, and getting them excited to learn how to read. They have recently received two grants, one of which is to renovate our library, complete with computers. We will be working with Mazon to help feed people and will have a Shabbat devoted to Mazon. We will also be collecting warm clothing for the winter to help people in need.
  • President’s report: So grateful for everyone who worked so hard to make Rosh Hashanah so successful.  Abe said how grateful he was to Nikki for her leadership, as well as the rest of the Board.
top