planning congregational celebrations

[cellio]

Friday night after services I found myself in a conversation with two people who are involved in the planning of some upcoming special events (for the congregation's 60th birthday). They were talking about a recent meeting where people were advocating hiring expensive bands, expensive caterers, etc -- you know, to make it a nice party that people would pay a lot to come to. I said this is why I never go to those sorts of fancy-schmacy events; if I'm being asked to pony up $75 or $100 for dinner, well first, that's a lot of money, and second, if it's a fundraiser I want the vast majority of that money to go to the cause in question, not to the providers of expensive services. (I also grant that I may be in a minority here.)

One of the people said that well, we'll solicit donations to cover some of those costs, and I pointed out that they could be looking for non-monetary donations that would produce a lot of bang for the (proverbial) buck. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Look, we've got over 1500 people in this congregation; I can't be the only one who knows how to cook large dinners.

Him: You've cooked large dinners?

Me: Well, the largest was for 100 people.

Him: You can cook for 100 people? What, in your kitchen?

Me: No, in a commercial kitchen and with helpers, thankyouverymuch. But it's not hard, and there may be people who've done a lot more of this sort of thing. You should try to find out.

Him: You can cook for 100 people?

Me: I have a feeling I know where this is going.

So ok, I would be willing to be head cook for a congregational dinner, if they can meet some not-unreasonable expectations. I seem to have suprised a lot of people by cooking the entree (only one dish! easy!) for a 60-person Shabbat dinner a year ago when other plans fell through. But really, the meme I want to plant is that you don't have to run everything through the bank account first; even if you spend a lot and then hit up benefactors to pay that expense, you aren't that far ahead (compared to just soliciting a donation) and you've burned some of that donor goodwill while ignoring people who would have given you donations of labor. I wonder if it will take.

Comments

[cellio]

Assumptions: your synagogue has a large kitchen and plates/silverware that meets the general level of kashruth observance of the congregation.

Correct. And enough oven, burner, and counter space to be able to cook a large meal.

We do hold informal dinners from time to time -- not as often as I'd like, but there does appear to be sentiment for changing that. They bring in a few bucks per person, which is appropriate, but they don't tend to attract large numbers of people (50 is considered big). So they're a source of spare change, not significant influxes. (To put this in perspective, the annual operating budget is slightly into seven figures.)