Thanks to all who showed up on Sunday for the first of two MCJC clean up days this summer.

With the help of Lou Dolmon, Leslie Cook and Andy Andrick, Bruce Weiss, Karen Koenig, Dara, Seth and Eli Turnball, and Ellen and Dale Morton, we got a lot accomplished!  Next time you’re at MCJC, take time to appreciate the cleaned beds in the front, the planted flowers and the newly painted swing set.

There’s still plenty to do at the next clean up day on Sunday, August 18. Join us if you can!

The Communications Committee has been meeting for over a year. During that time, we have taken on several big projects:

• A website that has become the coordinating point for all of our communications. Anything that goes into the e-nouncements, Newsletter, press releases, goes first through the website, both in its editing stage and its final published version. – mcjconline.org

• With thanks to Rabbi Tom, we have introduced several video series into our website: Torah study, Shabbat Shalom at Rabbi Tom’s Table, and Holidays. We hope to add video streaming soon. As we look at ways to promote these video series and expand on them, they will become important tools for inreach — and outreach.

• We have a great team of editors with very sharp eyes who reduce errors and conflicting information and ensure a uniformly professional style in all our publications. – Ellen Levy and Elaine Steinberg

• We have a Facebook account and Twitter account that coordinate to the website, helping us reach a wider audience.

• We have gotten onto a new email server, and now have a 99+% delivery rate.

• David Drizner, who has managed MCJC’s Newsletter mailing list for years, as well as Newsletter printing and mailing, is part of the Communications Committee. David has expertise in “process,” and helps us look at ways to create sustainable processes that will serve the congregation well, as our membership and work force change over time.

• We examined the purpose of each publication and set up the Newsletter as a benefit of membership and tool to encourage new memberships. We set a policy for sending out the Newsletter which will save approximately $500/year in costs, even as we move to first class postage.

• We sent a 1st class mailing to 186 non-member households last week, asking if they would like to continue receiving the Newsletter, and asking for them to confirm a “yes” with a $10 annual subscription.

• We gathered information from the four corners of the MCJC world and beyond to set up a database, still a work in progress, although we are able to produce some first results. The power of this tool will become more evident as we add more types of data.

• Every current member should soon receive a letter showing information we have in the database for you and members of your family. We hope you will take a moment to update or add to your information. This is a one-time, first class mailing.

Next year we want to continue developing and improving mechanisms to help us all communicate better with each other and with our wider public — and to keep MCJC growing.

One specific project we look forward to taking on is a one-year congregational calendar, coordinated, edited, and launched on the website to serve us all as a tool for planning.

We also hope to work more closely with our other MCJC Committees to see how the processes we are putting in place can help their work. We encourage the Board and Committee Chairs to reach out to any member of the Committee to see how Communications can enhance what you are doing, whether it’s a post on the website or an article for the newsletter or e-nouncements, a press release, a registration process, a mailing list, or a report from the database.  We urge you to join Membership Committee Chair, Linda Blatchford, as she has seen how this partnership can strengthen MCJC’s mission and vision.

Please check the MCJC website at mcjconline.org for information about how you can easily stay up-to-date with your MCJC family.

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In addition to checking out your beautiful bi-monthly MCJC Newsletter, here are other ways to stay up-to-date with your MCJC family:

• Newsletters are available on our website in .pdf format for you to print at home – https://mcjconline.org/newsletter-pdfs/

• You can “follow” or subscribe to our website, and each post will land in your mailbox as it’s posted.

• You can sign onto our email list and receive our weekly e-nouncements via the sign-up form in the right column of every page of our website.

• You can visit us on Facebook (McHenry County Jewish Congregation) or on Twitter (McHenry Judaism).

• You can visit our website at mcjconline.org and browse through our posts, pictures, Torah and music videos, and news.

• You can learn to use forms on the website. Submitting a question or contact through the “Contact Us” form gets your note directly to the person who can best respond to it.

• Registering for a class or event ensures you will get a call if there is a change. Payments are quick and easy with our payment buttons.

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Finally, and best of all, we have good meetings. We have fun — even while we are a hard-working committee putting in place lots of things we hope will serve MCJC well now and in the future. If you’d like to join us, please watch for meeting dates in the e-nouncements and plan to come on in.

1. We are putting together a congregational database and cleaning our mailing list. In the near future, non-members currently receiving the newsletter will receive a card asking if they would like to remain on the newsletter mailing list for a small yearly fee to offset printing and mailing costs. All current members will continue to receive the newsletter as a benefit of membership.

2. We are making our annual process of gathering information from members much easier for you!

This year, well in advance of our membership campaign, we will send you the Request for Information that usually arrives with your membership packets. The Request will be in the form of a letter with easy-to-update tables that show you what information we currently have in our new database.

All you need to do is confirm that the information is correct or update it or fill in missing information and return the updated form to us.

Please watch for this important mailing during May and plan to return your form as soon as possible. Thank you. ~ From the Communications Committee

Volunteers are the lifeblood of our MCJC community, and we have so many people who devote a lot of time and energy to making our community work. From Board Members to those who work on our committees–Building & Maintenance, Communications, Events, Fundraising, Membership and Ritual–we are blessed with hard-working, creative, devoted volunteers.

These committees need help from an energetic Volunteer Coordinator, someone who can build a team of congregants willing to pitch in to help with a dinner or an event or a mailing or to prepare the kitchen for Passover, who can serve as ushers or greeters. We need someone who can create a schedule of kiddush sponsors . . . or pull together people to do whatever is needed on an ad hoc basis.

The person who successfully builds this program will relieve a lot of pressure from the team of volunteers who not only manage committees and the projects that come out of those committees but the many smaller related tasks that could be handled by others who prefer shorter term, more limited commitments.

We can provide to a Volunteer Coordinator an MCJC email account (volunteers@mcjconline.org) and lists of people to contact to start a volunteer team, individuals you can call on from time to time to help out with projects including set ups and take downs for meals, mailings, ushering and greeting, phone trees and more. We can also offer all the tools of our website, email system and social media connections.

Please contact Dara Turnball (president@mcjconline.org) if you’d like to spearhead an effort to organize people who want to help out a little here and there without a huge, long term commitment. Think of all the ways you can make it fun, while doing something critically important for your congregation!

BUILDING & GROUNDS
To all who participated in either of our MCJC spruce up, clean and repair dates, thank you! To any who wanted to participate and weren’t able to make those dates, there’s more to do. Please contact Dale Morton at building@mcjconline.org.

MEMBERSHIP
Please join us for our Membership Open House, Sunday, August 26, 9:15 am. We’ve got an exciting morning planned. RSVP if you haven’t already at https://mcjconline.org/event/new-member-brunch/

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
Our next meeting is Monday, August 27, 6 pm at the Panera Bread on Northwest Highway in Crystal Lake.

SOCIAL ACTION
We’re getting underway for our Social Action work this year . . . with PADS meals, Adopt-a-Highway, Adopt-a-Trail, Habitat for Humanity, and more. If you would like to join us, please contact Bruce Weiss at socialaction@mcjconline.org.

DIAMONDS
We have so many fun and interesting activities planned for this year, all open to the whole congregation. Please contact us for scheduling information or to let us know what fun activities you’d like to share with your MCJC family. Contact Burl Cohn at diamonds@mcjconline.org.

BUILDING & GROUNDS
It’s the perfect time to help our Maintenance Men with outdoor projects! We have created a summer work list and are scheduling two volunteer dates to address MCJC needs. The dates are SUNDAY, JULY 22 and SUNDAY, AUGUST 19 from 9 am to noon. Lunch will be served at noon. 

There are many small, outdoor projects at MCJC that we could use your help with. Most of the projects involve painting and/or staining (playground set, front benches, back stairs, etc.).  All supplies will be provided. Please respond to building@mcjconline.org, or just show up!

COMMUNICATIONS
The Communications Committee is gathering all MCJC data collections in order to create a central database. If you compiled any lists or information on MCJC’s behalf, please complete the form here, attach your information, and submit no later than July 15, 2018.

Our next meeting is Monday, July 24, 7 pm, location off-site. Please check for more information here or if interested in attending, email webmaster@mcjconline.org.

MEMBERSHIP
Our next meeting is Wednesday, July 18, 6:30 pm off-site. We hope you’ll attend our open house event on August 26. Watch this website and your weekly E-Announcements for more details.

RITUAL
Our next meeting is Wednesday, July 25, 6:30 pm at MCJC. This is a great time to get involved with the Ritual Committee as we plan the High Holy Days at MCJC.

BUILDING & GROUNDS
Our second MCJC outdoot clean-up date comes up Sunday, August 19 from 9 am to noon. Lunch will be served at noon.

There are many small, outdoor projects at MCJC that we could use your help with. Most of the projects involve painting and/or staining (playground set, front benches, back stairs, etc.).  All supplies will be provided. Please respond to building@mcjconline.org, or just show up!

COMMUNICATIONS
The Communications Committee meet regularly and is hard at work on a three-way effort: streamlining and making communication inside MCJC more efficient, making our communication with the public more effective, and gathering and reorganizing into a database the data that connects it all. If you are interested in joining us and sharing your communications expertise, please email Leslie Cook, webmaster@mcjconline.org .

MEMBERSHIP
Membership continues to gear up for our busiest season of the year! Please plan to attend our Membership Picnic, August 26. If you would like to join our group, email Linda Blatchford, membership@mcjconline.org.

Building & Grounds
Communications
Education
Fundraising
Membership
Operations
Ritual
Social Action

Indicate your interest by requesting membership in one or more of these committees. Prior registration on our site is required (right column, halfway down). Then you may request to join one or more.