Securing our Future

I hope everybody is doing well.

A lot has happened since our last newsletter, and I want to bring everybody up to date  on one of the projects we were working on in late March.

We were made aware in February of a Security Grant Program for Non-Profits available through Homeland Security. We worked with guidance from the Secure Community Network, a non-profit organization founded to assist the American Jewish community in matters of communal safety, security, hazard preparedness and response, to put together a grant request for security enhancements for CSI. Officer Ulric Bellaire did a phenomenal job putting together a Vulnerability/Risk Assessment. This Assessment identified our needs and was a key part in the grant process. While we will not know until mid-August if we will receive the grant, we are hopeful that at least some of our request will be funded.

A big thank you to Jan Lewis, Ulric Bellaire, Steve Kruger, and Marty Koplin for a tremendous amount of work in putting together this grant proposal which was submitted on March 25^th.

As we moved into April, a lot of adjustments needed to be made very quickly in reaction to Covid-19 challenges. A big thank you to Marty Koplin and Rabbi Aaron on setting up the Zoom services. A special thank you to Sharona, Zohar, and Maya for their assistance running the online services.

We have learned a lot in the last month with this form of services. Although we are not at Shul, Rabbi Aaron and his entire family have done an excellent job in providing a meaningful warm service experience. At this point there are a still lot of unknowns as to how we will proceed with all that comes with Covid-19. The safety on our congregants is priority number 1. We will not take actions unless we feel we have everything covered regarding the safety of our congregation.

For many reasons, we felt it was time to make a change in the layout and form of delivery for out monthly newsletter. A big thanks to Deborah Adler for her many years of dedication to producing the monthly newsletter. I am not sure many of you realize how much work Deborah put into this each month. With this being our first attempt at producing an online version, we will make adjustments as needed. Please bear with us as we continue to refine our layout and formatting.

Lastly, as we come into May, a big Mazel Tov to all of our graduates.
Daniel Cohen
Sophie Denisar
Maya Rubinstein
Zohar Rubinstein

We all wish you the best and you start your new journeys in life!!