PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE – March 2026
For many years we had a great heating and air conditioning guy who would keep our aging equipment going. The system in Blum Hall gave up the ghost a number of years ago and we scrambled to come up with the money to replace that. The system for the sanctuary would from time to time stop working, and our guy would get it going again but warned us that the end was coming. The end has finally arrived. Our great heating and air conditioning guy is no longer around. One of our members has been using another company for years and swears by them. I had them out to our house to do some work on our own system. They are good, honest, and reasonable. But they only have so much magic. We need to replace the heating and cooling for the sanctuary. And we really don’t have the money.
We got all the good out of our old system. It dates back to when the building was built in the 1970s. The cost to replace it is a lot more than we had hoped for — $15,000.00. Yes, you read that right. I didn’t believe it at first either.
We don’t ask for money often. OK, we ask at the High Holidays, and we hint a lot the rest of the year, but for this we really need the help of our entire Temple community.
Our Temple’s finances have improved the last couple of years, in large part due Tracy’s efforts to help us rent out the facility for occasional filming. It seems our interior spaces are simple enough that they can be used for many settings with some creative set dressing. Together with careful spending and increased support from the Temple community, we have gotten to the point where routing bills have been a lot less stressful. We have actually been running small surpluses the past few years. But it hasn’t added up to where we can easily write a check for $15,000.00.
This is the first of what I am afraid may be many appeals for help in replacing the HVAC in the sanctuary. I’m asking everyone to pitch in for this unusual expense. The cold weather may thankfully be behind us, but the hot weather is here already. So please, if you can, make, a special, hopefully substantial, contribution toward a new system. It’s a big ask, but if we can raise most of the money through your generosity, we will be able to assure a comfortable sanctuary for Shabbat and High Holiday services and other activities we want to have in the sanctuary.
Thank you in advance for your generous support. I look forward to inviting everyone to come chill out at our Temple and enjoy being with all our warm, welcoming people!
— IRA L GOLDSTEIN, President
