The Har Shalom Home Sukkah Project was first conceived, designed and developed in 2009. The intention was to involve our congregants in the mtizvah of building and having their own family sukkot. The sukkah was to be easy to assemble, durable, conveniently stored and available at a very reasonable cost. In addition, having one's own sukkah would provide the opportunity for gathering family, friends and neighbors to share a meal and celebrate the joys of Sukkot together. The specifics of our project included designing the actual sukkah, finding sources and procuring components, customizing stock parts, providing easy to follow instructions, gathering and assembling the parts into completed kits, and arranging for distribution of the kits to their new owners. Our kits were fabricated and put together in an efficient assembly line fashion, involving not only cooperation of our sukkah committee, but a fun evening with refreshments and camaraderie.

The project had been run successfully for three years, when the Chairman of the Home Sukkah Kit Committee and a Past President considered the idea of expanding the project to other clubs in the Seaboard Region. The focus was on those clubs in the Washington, D.C suburbs to ease delivery. The idea was enthusiastically received by our Club Board of Directors. A pricing approach and plan was developed and region clubs were contacted to partner with us. In order to best market the concept, clubs were encouraged to come to Har Shalom to see our full size demo Sukkah set up in the synagogue. We took the demo model to the Seaboard Region at Pearlstone Conference Center and showed it to the over fifty attendees. One club borrowed the demo Sukkah over a weekend to show it at a picnic at its synagogue. One of the clubs further enhanced the concept by taking orders and providing schacht for the sukkah roof covering. This was very successful and it helped them sell many kits.