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| Report from Nahalat Shalom’s outgoing treasurer, Judy Brown Serving on the Va’ad for the past three years, the last two spent as Nahalat Shalom’s treasurer, has been a great experience for me. While the treasurer position sought me more actively than I sought it, it has been rewarding to fill the need of our community as we set up our building and worked to create structures and policies needed to do our community’s work. The past three years have been an exciting time to serve on the Va’ad, as we raised funds and purchased our building in May 2000, worked all summer to get it ready for our use, and opened it to our community in September 2000 for Shona’s Bat Mitzvah. Through Va’ad service I have gotten to know many members of our diverse and creative community, including my fellow Va’ad members as well as our rabbi and administrators. I took over the job of treasurer from Phil Jameson and thank him for his years of work in that position. I worked closely with Carol Boss and recently with Miria Kano as we organized and clarified our bookkeeping functions. My aim has been to get our books in shape for a new treasurer to take over so a transition can take place smoothly. The past two years since we moved in have required lots of set-up work. We hired a professional accountant to process our financial statements and taxes. We got our paperwork in order as our community acquired our property and all the responsibilities that accompany it. We allocated salaries for our heder teachers and a long-deserved raise for our cantor. We purchased health insurance for our rabbi and administrator. We created inventories and clarified insurance coverage and liabilities. We paid off our building! We developed our budgeting process for the year and created ways to plan and track spending on individual events. We developed our website. We worked together to get our house in order in many ways. I have enjoyed taking an active part in these changes. The business work of our community needs the caring attention of community volunteers. Please consider being part of that ongoing co-evolution by joining the Va’ad, and more specifically, serving as our fiscal steward. My term ends this fall, so I should begin training our next treasurer as soon as possible. Anyone who might want to take over as treasurer, please call me at 345-0022 for more information on how you can help in this important role. | ||||||||
