Our program opened with a buffet chow hall style brunch - eggs, kosher sausage, potatoes accompanied by the men's club standards of bagels and lox. Once served our first speaker Captain Marc Herwitz gave a 40-minute presentation that he compiled on Jews in the US military - beginning from the French and Indian War in 1754 to the present day. Captain Herwitz fielded a short round of questions. Following this Ret Captain Rosalind Sloan shared her personal experiences for 20 minutes of being Jewish in the US military contrasting situations of being stationed domestically and internationally. Captain Sloan then fielded questions along with further questions for Captain Herwitz.
Our program charged $12 for Men’s club members and $18 for non-members. Probably about half were non-members (many spouses). By holding the educational session as a Sunday brunch, we maximize likelihood of attendance by starting just after Sunday morning minyan and Sunday school drop off. We had many walk-ins to the invite, more than anticipated but the food held out. We had no speaker fees as the presenters were synagogue members and happy to volunteer their knowledge and experiences. That enabled us to keep the costs down and break even for the event.
Finally, we also had a table with materials on Jewish Veteran support agencies for attendees to learn more and contribute to these worthwhile charities.
The event was well regarded. Just recently, as club president, I was contacted by the adult education committee if the men’s club could partner with them and help that group gain traction for their educational programs. Unfortunately, the first one planned conflict with our regular election brunch planning.

I have attached snippets of the presentation as the whole presentation was too large to upload. There is a lot to learn from the whole presentation.