Attending: Neil Pearlman, Esther Edell, Donna Goldberg, Avital Ordan, Debbie Weissman, Deborah Kalkar, Yoni Hammer-Kossoy, Deborah Greineman, Kobi Abelman, Marc Render, Jonathan Fine, Haim Watzman, Ilana Watzman, Bobbie Silberklang, Sheri Fox, Eudice Weiner, Dov Cooper-Berger, Penina Arbit, Hana Levine, Pamela Pearlman, Mordechai Beck, Randi Garber
Neil Pearlman was appointed to act as chairman for tonight's meeting. Donna Goldberg was appointed to act as secretary.
Neil P. read the report that was prepared by Sheri Fox and Esther Edell.
Kobi Abelman asked for a clarification for item #3 regarding the committee's requirement that salaries now be paid only against presentation of Form 101. It was clarified that in the past salaries were occasionally paid and the form was later filled out retroactively. The Audit Committee found this practice to be improper and instructed that it be discontinued.
Haim Watzman moved that the report be accepted. The motion was seconded and the report of the Audit Committee was accepted unanimously. Sheri and Esther signed the report.
The accountant from Haft and Haft, Avi Farkash, was present to explain the financial statement and answer questions people might have. He explained the concept of depreciation and how it is calculated for the financial statement; he explained about how the kupat tzedaka was now being reflected in the kehila's financial statement (in the past it was a separate entity and did not appear in the financial statements); he explained the accounting technique of representing outstanding loans in the financial statements.
Kobi proposed that as had been decided by the vaad minahel, the number of members should be included in the beginning of the statement. That would help us to better understand the number representing membership dues (for example, if the number is particularly high, is that because we suddenly had a rush of new members, or was it because the dues were raised), and it would help us compare it to years past. Kobi also suggested that the item of expenses be broken down to reflect the percentage of expenses going for administration so we can compare that from year to year. This suggestion was accepted by those present.
Haim Watzman moved that those present accept the audited financial statement. The motion was seconded and the report was accepted unanimously. Penina Arbit and Randi Garber, as co-chairpersons of Kehilat Yedidya, signed all copies of the financial statement. Avi Farkash was thanked for his explanations and his time, and he left the meeting at this point.
Esther Edell cannot continue serving on the audit committee because she is now a member of the vaad minahel. Sherri Fox agreed to continue, provided there were two other people to serve wither. It was proposed that she choose two additional people over the course of the next few weeks, and the vaad minahel would confirm them. This proposal was accepted by those present.
Jody Blum, the new treasurer was unable to attend (she e-mailed her last-minute regrets, noting that she needed to fly to the US on personal business), and Randi Garber read out the report she had prepared.
A brief discussion was held regarding when the annual general meeting should be held. This year we had two AGMs, one in October to approve the new chairpersons, and this one, to approve the financial statements. It was agreed that in the future, only one meeting was necessary each year, perhaps in November, so that both tasks could be accomplished at one time, in an attempt to ensure maximum participation by the kehila members. The final decision would be left to the bookkeeper, in coordination with the vaad minahel.
Penina Arbit gave a brief review of this year's activities: children's activities, concerts, the Chanukah art evening and various other cultural and educational activities, one of the goals of which was to raise money for the kehila. She asked members to think about ways to generate more income for the kehila so we would have funding for future activities, a maintenance fund and additional purchases, so that it wouldn't be necessary to raise dues every time we needed more money.
This concluded the official part of the meeting, and Neil Pearlman was thanked for acting as the chairman for the meeting.
Pamela Pearlman, chairperson of the Ma'aseh Committee spoke about the activities of her committee. Some of the areas her committee works on include: helping new mothers with meals and advice; assisting families sitting shiva; hospitality on Shabbat; babysitting list; visiting elderly residents in the neighborhood. New areas in which the committee would like to invest its efforts:
Sherri Fox suggested that we offer babysitters a course on emergency procedures and first aid, for example, through MDA. Hana Levine mentioned that this is done in the USA. It was agreed that we would look into the possibility if people expressed an interest.
Debbie Greineman, head of the Education/Culture committee, spoke about some of the programs that took place this year, particularly the recent Chanukah Art Exhibition and the upcoming Tu B'Shvat celebration, both of which were inspired by her committee. She stated that she would like to expand our already existing list of weekly classes, and also hold another blood drive (which was so successful last year), perhaps combined with a program in health issues and a drive to recruit volunteers for some of our chassed programs.
Randi suggested that it might be helpful if kehila members had information about running programs, and proposed that people who were in charge of various programs write up an explanation that would include what they did, the budget, and positive and negative outcomes of the program. These sheets could then be kept in a file in the office for reference by anyone else interested in running programs of various types.
Penina ended with a call for volunteers for the upcoming mishloach manot project, since we would need people to deliver the manot (no megilla reading on Sunday morning due to Purim Meshulash).