2015-2016 MoTAS Planning Survey Question Title * 1. Jewish Christmas. Last year, MoTAS started a tradition of individually or collectively going to a movie, and then getting together for Chinese food (hence "Jewish Christmas") on December 25th. This year, December 25th is a Friday. The TAS calendar shows a movie in the Social Hall at 4pm, Erev Shabbat Services at 6:15pm, and "Chinese Dinner - Away" at 7:30pm. What should MoTAS do, given this information: Join in whatever the Temple event is: unspecified movie in the social hall, followed by services and chinese food away. Continue the MoTAS tradition: See an afternoon movie (individually or collectively), get together with our families to schmoose and gab, and order in Chinese takeout. Mix it up: See an afternoon movie (individually or collectively), go up to TAS for Shabbat services, and then get together as MoTAS for Chinese Food (quite likely, take out at a member's house). Question Title * 2. Yellow Candle Program. Every year, MoTAS participates in the Yellow Candle program, where we spend a meeting boxing up candles to commemorate Yom HaShoah and mail them out to the congregation, for whatever donation they want to return. Last year we spent over $600 in postage to mail the candles, and donations did not come near covering the costs. What should we do this year? Yom HaShoah is May 4. Continue the program as we have always done (send candles to the entire congregation), and just absorb any loss. Mail out postcards to the entire congregation in March (March 13), and assemble the candle boxes but do not label them. The postcard would provide the opportunity to reserve the candle for pickup at the temple, or to have the candle mailed, by making a phone call, reserving online, or returning the postcard. We would order a smaller number of candles, based on the number that actually donated for the candles, plus an extra percentage to cover those who do not donate. Overall mailing costs will be lower as the cost to mail a postcard is significantly less, even with the mailing of a lower number of candles. We would label and mail any requested candles at the April meeting (April 10) Same as above, except we combine the postcard mailing with the annual support mailing in January, and only send postcards to those households not covered by the annual mailing. Given that there is more time, we would assemble and mail any requested candles at the March meeting. Question Title * 3. Jethawks Baseball. Last year, MoTAS started a tradition of an early Summer outing to watch the Lancaster Jethawks. We have received a special offer from the Jethawks if we reserve early. We need to pick the dates. Jethawks Stadium is about an hours drive from TAS, and the price is affordable for the family. We went last year on a Sunday afternoon, and it was quite hot. The Jethawks start play in mid-April; Religious School ends on Sunday May 15; the Gala is Sunday May 22. Afternoon games start at 2pm, and end around 5pm. Evening games start at 6 or 630p, and end around 10pm. Do a Sunday afternoon game before the end of Religious School. Do a Sunday afternoon game after Religious School ends and after the Gala. Do a Saturday evening game before the end of Religious School (meaning there is Religious School the next morning). Do a Saturday evening game after Religious School ends and after the Gala. Question Title * 4. Golf Tournament. The major fundraiser for MoTAS is the Annual Golf Tournament. It takes a lot of work to put on from the volunteer team, and we are seeing fewer players (we had about 60 this year), meaning it is making less funds (the estimate for 2015 is around $7,000). However, MoTAS needs a major fundraiser to supplement the annual support (which replaced dues). Note that the Golf Tournament was moved to the Fall to eliminate conflicts with fundraising for the Temple Gala. Keep the Golf Tournament as an annual Golf Tournament, and work to get more golfers. Do the Golf Tournament every other year, and alternate it with a family oriented Miniature Golf Tournament combined with a Poker Tournament. Keep the Golf Tournament as an annual Golf Tournament, but expect a smaller return. Supplement it with another family-based fundraising activity, such as a miniature Golf Tournament or a Concert. Something else which I will say in these comments. Done