A Men's Club board member, who is the Executive Director at Jewish Federation Association of Connecticut (JFACT), suggested that Israeli basketball player Doron Sheffer speak at a Men's Club program in late February. Through his professional involvement with JFACT, he knew that Sheffer would be in Connecticut at that time before heading home to Israel. While he originally suggested that Sheffer speak as part of a Saturday morning Shabbat, the consensus was that a Sunday morning breakfast program, which would include a book-signing, would be more feasible and would likely draw a larger crowd.

We landed on a date that worked for the Temple and for Sheffer. We knew that there would be a lot of excitement about this. While Connecticut does not have any professional sports teams, the University of Connecticut (UCONN) men's basketball team is very popular. Sheffer is well-known locally having played on championship teams at UCONN alongside some other very popular players. His professional basketball career in Israel added to the interest in seeing him in person.

The Men's Club reached out to Beth El Temple's Israel Engagement Committee to see if they wanted to co-sponsor this program with us. The committee sponsors or co-sponsors with other community organizations, programs and events designed to share Israel’s story. They explore history, politics, culture and day-to-day life, actively connecting our members to our homeland’s past, present and future. They of course were happy to be part of this program. Their role would be to help publicize the program through their network as well as provide help the morning of the program.

A publicity request was sent out that would set things in motion for marketing this program through inclusion in the bi-monthly newsletter, weekly Shabbat e-blasts, weekly Shabbat bulletins, standalone e-blasts, and Facebook publicity. As we got closer to the program date, the Men's Club board made arrangements for the breakfast buffet, including having enough volunteers helping out with the food, registration, set-up and clean-up, as well as the book-signing.

Over 40 people attended the program, one of our largest Sunday morning programs in many years. Sheffer gave an inspiring presentation, and many people bought his book at the book-signing held at the end of his presentation.

Afterwards, the Men's Club agreed to pay Sheffer an honorarium which is done occasionally to show our appreciation and thank the speaker for their efforts.

Per e-mail sent to the Men's Club afterwards by the organizer and event chair:
"It was a terrific event. We had over 40 people in attendance which, I was told, was one of the biggest events in the last several years. He connected with the audience so much that he brought a woman to tears with his message. He talked about his basketball career in Connecticut and Israel, battling cancer and trying to live a life centered around Torah."