by Elaine Durbach
NJJN Bureau Chief/Central

March 19, 2009

The women organizing this year’s Main Event — set for Tuesday, May 5 — know that they are facing a challenge this year, given everyone’s tightened budgets. But the festive dinner is the flagship event for the Women’s Campaign of the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey, and — with donations down — it will be more important than ever to draw a healthy turnout.

The Women’s Campaign accounts for about 22 percent of the federation’s annual campaign, which last year totaled $5.1 million. Funds raised through the Main Event — last year, $96,000 — represent about 10 percent of the Women’s Campaign total.

Federation vice president Marcie Lazar said they are anticipating a drop of as much as 20 percent in the annual total, at a time when the requests for assistance are soaring. “We just have to work harder than ever before,” she said.

About 20 members of the planning committee met at the Wilf Jewish Community Campus on March 4. Listening to them, it was hard to imagine anyone’s resisting their invitations to the event. Marcia Wasser, the campaign’s training and development chair, led the program.

As a warm-up, she had the women call out how many years they have helped organize the Main Event, serving as table hostesses, handling decor, or carrying out other tasks. There were gasps and laughter as they came up with their answers — six, seven, and much more. Lion of Judah cochair Wendy Rosenberg admitted to 19; Elyse Deutsch, cochair of the social action committee, and who used to be the event’s “official calligrapher,” copped to 17.

Then Wasser had them pair up and take turns telling each other why federation deserves their support and what is special about the Main Event.

Usually, exercises like that bring groans and half-hearted role play, but with this crowd, you could hear the passion filling the room. They were outdoing each other with their lists of the organization’s crucial programs and how they help build a vibrant Jewish community. When it came to talking about the gala dinner, words like “glamorous” and “worthwhile” intermingled with phrases like “getting together with friends” and “we deserve it.”

It was a case of the sighted leading the sighted. At one table, campaign president Sharon Rockman, with hands gesturing, was explaining what drew her to volunteer for the federation. At another, Erica Needle, immediate past president and current Lion of Judah Endowment chair, talked of how their efforts help Jews in need all over the world. She directed her remarks to Elaine Hochheiser, a vice-president of Jewish Family Service of Central New Jersey and past Main Event chair, who nodded in hearty agreement and talked of the money needed to provide such help. “Federation is here for us too,” Needle added later.

Perhaps the most ardent explaining came from the newer activists, people still marveling at the rewards they said they are deriving from this kind of involvement.

‘Counting our blessings’

The next part of the training was harder: Wasser had the participants list all the reasons that people might not want to come to the Main Event. Some said they know people who don’t like large gatherings and others who like parties but won’t drive at night to Crystal Plaza in Livingston, where the event is held.

Of course, the most obvious reason cited was money. To attend the Main Event, you need to have donated or pledged to donate at least $272 to the federation’s Annual Campaign. Lazar pointed out that donors have until the end of the calendar year to pay, though the earlier the money comes in, the easier it is to plan the organization’s activities. Someone whipped out a calculator and showed that that’s less than 75 cents a day.

Then there is the couvert charge of $80 for the evening. The leaders said that when they tried to keep costs down for another event by having it at the Wilf campus, the price was only $5 a head less, because of all the equipment the caterer had to bring in. “$80 is really the most reasonable price we could get for an event like this,” Rockman said.

She and others pointed out that the evening, with its cocktails and dinner, and a stellar speaker — this year, Israeli-based community activist Leah Stern — is a morale booster that inspires people to get even more involved with federation, while thoroughly enjoying themselves.

That price does rule the event out for some people, the participants agreed, and there was a buzz of understanding about that. “It’s important not to push as hard as in other years,” one woman said. “There are plenty of other events that they can come to instead that don’t have this kind of cost.”

Social action committee cochair Janice Weinberg said some people might demur on account of having “an expensive year” with family simhas to budget for. “But simhas should inspire us to give more,” she said. “Giving is one of the ways we count our blessings.”

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