And Moses told the nation: ‘Remember this day that you went out of Egypt, from a house of bondage.’ - Exodus 13:3
At the end of the month, we will not only retell the story of the Exodus to our children, but we will relive it with them. The Mishnah tells us that the verse, “For that which the Lord did for me when I went out of Egypt” (Ex. 13:8) means that: “In each and every generation a man must see himself as if he came out of Egypt.” (Pesahim 10:5) Thus, each year we visit the past to remind us of the liberation of our ancestors from Egyptian bondage and to inspire us to do the same − i.e., to encourage us to break free from the limitations that we impose on ourselves every day.
In a sense, that is what the Board is hoping to accomplish this year − to break free of the past, at least in part, by addressing what we, as a congregation, are going to do with our capital campaign funds if we are not going to be moving to the Snouffer Road property in the near term. The possibilities are truly wide open, and we welcome your input. We could decide, for example, to preserve the funds until such time as a move becomes possible. We could close the capital building project altogether. Or we could decide to remodel our current building to make it − as much as we can − the place we want it to be, for ourselves and our children.
As you know, our Building Committee has been generating some excitement with its plans for what we might do with our current building. A Sanctuary in the Garden is the concept, with worship space framed in wood and glass and decorated to preserve the feeling of being in the garden. Five new classrooms so that we can have one session of Religious School for our younger children. A new library that can serve as a chapel for alternative and children’s services. Remodeled social space for our weddings, bar- and bat mitzvahs, and other lifecycle events. The picture created is one of an active, vibrant community looking to the future, and admittedly, I find it very appealing.
One of the natural questions raised by this alternative, and one that the Building Committee is not only thinking about but raising at its congregational meetings, is, “If we go in this direction, what will it cost, and how might we pay for it?” No one on the Board or the Committee wants to place at risk the financial health of our congregation, particularly in this economy.
The short answer is, “We don’t know yet.” But many on the Board are optimistic that if this is the direction we collectively choose to take, we can raise the necessary funds to get us there. To give you a general sense of where we stand today: We initially raised just over $2.1 million in the campaign, thanks to the tremendous generosity of our members. Still, our capital campaign expenses have been significant over the last decade. The initial fundraising effort cost just over $200,000. We spent roughly $825,000 on the Snouffer Road property (including acquisition and upkeep). And we’ve spent approximately $520,000 on professional fees (including legal and architectural for both the initial remodel at our current site and the subsequent new build at the Snouffer Road property). With miscellaneous expenses over the years for a contractor, surveying, and campaign communications (among other things) totaling another $200,000 (roughly), we have in the capital campaign fund approximately $350,000.
Enough to do everything we want? No. But we have other assets to at least consider and, all in, we may have as much as one-half of what we might need, or more. That too is pretty exciting.
Mark Twain once wrote: Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow. While I chuckle every time I read that quote, I never was very good at procrastinating – the impending sense of more and more work piling up, perhaps. This Board shares that sense of wanting to move forward and accomplish things – including (to bring us full circle to Pesach) wanting to free us from the question – “What are we going to do with our capital campaign funds?”
Please join us at the congregational meetings organized by our Building Committee to share your thoughts on the Committee’s design concepts and your views on what we should be doing. See you then!
~ Greg Russell, President
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