Submission #266 by Fair Lawn Jewish Center/Congregation B'nai Israel Men's Progress Club - Fair Lawn, NJ (947)
I have read the General Guidelines, "Nuts and Bolts" and Program Advanced Planning (Excel Spreadsheet) Documents
70th Anniversary Gala Luncheon
Club Administration
Page 1
To celebrate our Club’s 70th Anniversary, we created a luncheon event including presentations by synagogue and civic leaders, a museum of memorabilia of Club history, entertainment, and fund-raising for a gift to our synagogue.
The president and 3 past presidents identified a wish list of ideas for the celebration event. This covered a range of thoughts from easy through quite-difficult to implement. The chairman rated each element on the timeline as “critical,” “should have” and “nice to have.” That way, we listed all of the ideas, but agreed to implement only the most important, adding any others we could complete in the time available.
Using this prioritized list, the chairman created a detailed timeline of tasks with due dates and “nag” dates to remind the owner of each step (see attachment). With the help of the president, the chairman identified owners for each step of the timeline. The president, chairman and master of ceremonies comprised a core team that managed the overall process.
Using email and GoogleDocs, the core team coordinated documents and updated the timeline/check list we completed each step. Step owners each recruited assistants from the Club membership and ran their own steps. The chairman spoke to these men every week for updates and trouble-shooting.
In addition to the invitations (attached), the chairman sent letters to various government leaders requesting letters of recognition for the anniversary and inviting the addressees to the event as our guests (attached). These letters netted attendance of the Deputy Mayor, 2 County Freeholders and our US Congressman. Each presented the Club with a plaque or Commendation, including naming the day of the event Men’s Progress Club Day in the town of Fair Lawn. (Note to other clubs: we did not receive responses from our Senators or from the White House – but we did not have time to adequately follow up with them).
We agreed early that Entertainment would be very important. The Club has a history of song-and-dance number, often including men playing all parts – male and female. There was also a time when every Men’s Progress Club show included a ballet number. We revived both of these. We were fortunate that one of our members has experience as a performer. He wrote the lyrics and arranged the blocking for the entertainment. Volunteers participated in several rehearsals.
One member with particular talents with PowerPoint, collected and digitally scanned photographs from past events, often borrowed from family members, for the slide show.
One man took the responsibility of creating a museum of Club history. He collected artifacts from members and from our “Presidents’ box” passed from leader to leader over the past 40 years or so. He canvassed long-time members for anything they had from “the old days” and borrowed photos from the Synagogue Historian (a role created by our Synagogue president 7 or 8 years ago). We laid out these artifacts on several tables and labeled them for reference and enjoyment.
Our souvenir program included a list of the events for the day, named the current Board, and listed the speakers. The program also included lists of all past presidents, Men of the Year and winners of our Memorial Scholarship (in honor of passed members) going back as far as we had records.
Our VP of Food and Catering (a very important role a successful Jewish Men’s Club) worked with a budget of $18 per guest. Shopping at food warehouses and restaurant supply stores, he created an amazing menu well within budget. Volunteers cooked pasta with vodka sauce, an Italian vegetarian meatloaf, salads (plated at the table) and other delicious goodies, including several desserts. We opted for dairy to keep costs down and dessert options open.
Our Master of Ceremonies coordinated the speakers, entertainment and the overall flow of the day. He worked with speakers in advance to ensure minimum overlap of messages and left time open for the various civic presentations since we did not know what those would be until our guests arrived on the day. Speakers included
• the founding Rabbi of our synagogue who spoke about the early days of the Club
• a past president who spoke about the Club’s later years
• the current presidents
• our government guests
• our rabbi and cantor
• our special gift presenter
The highlights of the day were the entertainment events. Our main song and dance interrupted the MC at one point, with members suddenly standing up and singing and moving around the room to involve everyone in the room. Our slide show and candle lighting ceremonies were moving and brought tears of memory to some. Finally, our “creative director” introduced the final number, reminding us of the history of ballet performances – 7 of us, dressed in tutus and feathers, did a rendition of the Dance of the Swan Queen from Swan Lake.
Using this prioritized list, the chairman created a detailed timeline of tasks with due dates and “nag” dates to remind the owner of each step (see attachment). With the help of the president, the chairman identified owners for each step of the timeline. The president, chairman and master of ceremonies comprised a core team that managed the overall process.
Using email and GoogleDocs, the core team coordinated documents and updated the timeline/check list we completed each step. Step owners each recruited assistants from the Club membership and ran their own steps. The chairman spoke to these men every week for updates and trouble-shooting.
In addition to the invitations (attached), the chairman sent letters to various government leaders requesting letters of recognition for the anniversary and inviting the addressees to the event as our guests (attached). These letters netted attendance of the Deputy Mayor, 2 County Freeholders and our US Congressman. Each presented the Club with a plaque or Commendation, including naming the day of the event Men’s Progress Club Day in the town of Fair Lawn. (Note to other clubs: we did not receive responses from our Senators or from the White House – but we did not have time to adequately follow up with them).
We agreed early that Entertainment would be very important. The Club has a history of song-and-dance number, often including men playing all parts – male and female. There was also a time when every Men’s Progress Club show included a ballet number. We revived both of these. We were fortunate that one of our members has experience as a performer. He wrote the lyrics and arranged the blocking for the entertainment. Volunteers participated in several rehearsals.
One member with particular talents with PowerPoint, collected and digitally scanned photographs from past events, often borrowed from family members, for the slide show.
One man took the responsibility of creating a museum of Club history. He collected artifacts from members and from our “Presidents’ box” passed from leader to leader over the past 40 years or so. He canvassed long-time members for anything they had from “the old days” and borrowed photos from the Synagogue Historian (a role created by our Synagogue president 7 or 8 years ago). We laid out these artifacts on several tables and labeled them for reference and enjoyment.
Our souvenir program included a list of the events for the day, named the current Board, and listed the speakers. The program also included lists of all past presidents, Men of the Year and winners of our Memorial Scholarship (in honor of passed members) going back as far as we had records.
Our VP of Food and Catering (a very important role a successful Jewish Men’s Club) worked with a budget of $18 per guest. Shopping at food warehouses and restaurant supply stores, he created an amazing menu well within budget. Volunteers cooked pasta with vodka sauce, an Italian vegetarian meatloaf, salads (plated at the table) and other delicious goodies, including several desserts. We opted for dairy to keep costs down and dessert options open.
Our Master of Ceremonies coordinated the speakers, entertainment and the overall flow of the day. He worked with speakers in advance to ensure minimum overlap of messages and left time open for the various civic presentations since we did not know what those would be until our guests arrived on the day. Speakers included
• the founding Rabbi of our synagogue who spoke about the early days of the Club
• a past president who spoke about the Club’s later years
• the current presidents
• our government guests
• our rabbi and cantor
• our special gift presenter
The highlights of the day were the entertainment events. Our main song and dance interrupted the MC at one point, with members suddenly standing up and singing and moving around the room to involve everyone in the room. Our slide show and candle lighting ceremonies were moving and brought tears of memory to some. Finally, our “creative director” introduced the final number, reminding us of the history of ballet performances – 7 of us, dressed in tutus and feathers, did a rendition of the Dance of the Swan Queen from Swan Lake.
Page 2
Original Program