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Adult Ed Seminar: The Disparity Between Haves and Have-Nots
Please join us as GRS congregant, Marv Berenblum, leads a seminar on Sunday, May 6 at 10:30am.
THE DISPARITY BETWEEN HAVES AND HAVE-NOTS – A CHALLENGE TO OUR TRADITIONAL FORM OF DEMOCRACY
The downward pressure on socio-economic mobility threatens the very essence of our democracy which relies on equal opportunity for all.
Happy Passover from GRS!
Wishing all a Happy Pesach from all of us at Greenwich Reform Synagogue!
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
At last night's meeting, the Congregation unanimously voted to approve the sale of the current GRS property to The Stanwich School. The amendments to the by-laws, relating to investment of funds and indemnification was also approved.
We wish to thank everyone who participated in the informational sessions and who voted by proxy. We will keep you informed on a regular basis as we find both interim and permanent spaces for GRS.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: GRS & THE STANWICH SCHOOL REACH AGREEMENT
CONTACTS:
Greenwich Reform Synagogue: The Stanwich School:
Sandy Soule Laura Dianis
203-637-7642 203-542-0004
sandy.soule@gmail.com ldianis@stanwichschool.org
GREENWICH REFORM SYNAGOGUE AND THE STANWICH SCHOOL
REACH PURCHASE AGREEMENT
Greenwich, CT – March 16, 2012–The Boards of Trustees of Greenwich Reform Synagogue and The Stanwich School announced today that they have reached an agreement whereby The Stanwich School will purchase the buildings and 11.5-acre property owned by Greenwich Reform Synagogue at 257 Stanwich Road in Greenwich. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The GRS Executive Committee unanimously recommends that its congregation vote in favor of the transaction. A Special Meeting of the GRS' congregation will be held on April 2, 2012 to vote on the transaction. The Board of Trustees of The Stanwich School has voted unanimously in favor of the transaction. Assuming approval by the GRS congregation, the boards of Stanwich and GRS have agreed to sign definitive contracts on April 3, 2012 and close the transaction no later than June 1, 2012.
Under the agreement, GRS will relocate its sanctuary and offices at the end of October 2012 (following the High Holy Days) to a temporary location. This will accommodate Stanwich’s conversion of the sanctuary space back to its original gymnasium and theater construct. GRS will continue to use Stanwich classrooms for religious education purposes on Wednesday afternoons and Sunday mornings during the next three years, while GRS builds its new sanctuary and classroom facilities.
Greg Drennen, Chair of The Stanwich School’s Board of Trustees, said, “This agreement will provide The Stanwich School with the clarity and security we have been seeking to fully control our destiny. We have long appreciated the strategic value of the GRS property and we fully believe this positive development will serve the best interests of our community, both near and long-term. The future will be firmly in our hands to ultimately build an extraordinary Pre-K through 12th grade co-ed academic and sports facility on a 37-acre campus in the heart of Greenwich mid-country. We wish GRS well as they embark on their pathway toward a permanent home for their congregation.”
Bill Grad, Chair of Greenwich Reform Synagogue’s Board of Trustees commented, “We are delighted that our agreement with Stanwich gives us the financial resources we need to build a new synagogue and feel that this arrangement is in the best interests of both organizations. For the interim period, we will continue our cordial and cooperative relationship with The Stanwich School, sharing their classrooms for several years as our congregation builds its new permanent home. We will arrange for lovely temporary sanctuary space during this interim period. Of course, we will keep our congregation and the community apprised as the details of our construction plans are finalized.”
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Guest Speaker, Senator Richard Blumenthal
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Take Action – The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
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GRS President’s Yom Kippur Remarks
Good morning! I Hope everyone is having an easy fast on this Yom Kippur morning.
By now, you all have seen the playing field construction now underway by the Stanwich School, and no doubt have questions about what this means for GRS:
First, a little history: The Torah tells us that the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years before finding the promised land. Well, we haven't yet arrived at the promised land, but we're not in the desert either. GRS had its first home at Diamond Hill Church, then St. Paul's in Riverside, and arrived here in 1993, transforming the former Greenwich Catholic School gymnasium into the sanctuary you see today. In 1998, we began renting space to Stanwich School, and in 2003 began discussions regarding sale of our property to Stanwich. A plan for a campus which included both Stanwich School and GRS was approved by the town of Greenwich in 2009, and the ensuing lawsuit, filed by the neighbors, was dropped in 2010. This summer, Stanwich School began building a regulation-size playing field with artificial turf and is installing a state-approved waste water treatment facility.
Although GRS has the greatest respect and appreciation for our long-time relationship with the Stanwich School, our foremost responsibility is to YOU, our members. The role and responsibility of the GRS board is to ensure the long-term health of the congregation. In that regard, I have an important update and some good news regarding the building of our future synagogue.
As you already know, we have been in negotiations with Stanwich School for the sale of some of our property for quite some time. Recently, it became increasingly unclear to us when we would have a synagogue and whether it would be economically viable in a deal with Stanwich. As a result, we began to investigate alternatives.
Today, I am happy to announce to you that due to the hard work of our members, committees, and notably the creativity of Louis Van Leeuwen, we indeed found an alternative to the sale to Stanwich which would both speed the timing of the building of our new synagogue and result in far superior value to our congregation—economic value that would ensure our ability to grow and thrive as a Reform synagogue.
Out of consideration for Stanwich, as a long-standing, good tenant and neighbor, recently we entered into discussions with their board to see if we could structure an agreement which would put them in a similar economic neighborhood and timing to our alternative, providing them, in fact, with some discount as well. Unfortunately, despite hard work by our committee members and temple stakeholders over the last couple months, Stanwich did not approach the value of our alternative plan or even provide a level of financial consideration which would have ensured the future viability of GRS, let alone provide certainty on the timing of our synagogue. As a result, after considered thought, GRS respectfully called off discussions this week with Stanwich in order to solely focus on our exciting alternative.
So, our plan, which LVL and team came up with, is to develop either all or a part of our property with townhomes which would also have an affordable housing component. Affordable housing refers to homes for people such as firemen, police officers, and teachers. This plan would permit GRS to either stay here and build our synagogue or to relocate should we find a better location to build more quickly or more economically. The project has been vetted by board members and key stakeholders of GRS as well as professionals. There is excitement about the plan and we see little issue with any approvals and we have been advised by town professionals that it actually helps the Town of Greenwich with their affordable housing requirements. The result is an expected value to GRS of approximately $14 million to $18 million or more, depending on whether we build our synagogue here or build elsewhere, and it would speed up the completion of our synagogue to within 2.5 years or quicker. Compared to the proposed Stanwich sale which our congregants conditionally approved years ago, we see this as an increase of $4M-$8M in cash and likely having a synagogue 2-3 years sooner. Most importantly, it works financially for GRS, enabling us to pursue our own ambitious plans and to thrive.
We are very excited about finally moving forward with this plan and believe this project will attract new members, provide us with space for membership growth, a new preschool, and help us re-emerge as a truly outstanding congregation of which we can all be proud. I sincerely thank all of our committee members who worked so hard on the project and helped GRS turn the page to a new exciting chapter in the story of our success. In light of the holiday, the Rabbi has requested that we refrain from a dialogue on this topic, so I would ask you to hold your questions for now, and we will schedule a discussion to go over particulars of our plan and answer any questions; we will email the congregation as soon as the date and time are set.
Bill Grad
President, Greenwich Reform Synagogue Board of Trustees
Circle of Giving Remarks, Kol Nidre, October 2011
Thank you Rabbi Sklarz, Cantor Lipton, David Johnson and the choir for making our High Holy Day services so special. Our rabbi leads us in prayer, opening our hearts, and the beautiful music of our cantor and choir lift those prayers from our hearts up to heaven.
During this sacred time, we have a responsibility to ensure the strength and future of our congregation, and for that reason, I bring you a word from our sponsor, the GRS Annual Circle of Giving. A friend of mine used to talk about “BFOs” – no worries, I’m not going to swear on the bemah – a BFO is a blinding flash of the obvious. Unlike the Ten Commandments which our Lions of Judah hold so proudly on our historic ark, I have only five BFOs to share with you tonight:
- The Circle of Giving is the un-dinner dance: GRS started the Circle of Giving almost ten years ago, as an alternative to our earlier hodge-podge of fund-raising efforts, ranging from high holy day appeals and fair share donations to a smorgasbord of events, including dinner dances, journals, auctions, and more. It was confusing and costly; with the Circle of Giving, 100% of every dollar you give goes to help GRS provide the services and programs you want, unlike an auction, journal, or dinner dance, where over 50% of every dollar goes to pay for the event itself. The Circle of Giving also enables us to offer educational and social events throughout the year on an affordable, break-even basis.
- No coin left behind: The GRS staff and board does an amazing job of stretching every dollar as far as it can go – our careful no-waste, blood, sweat and tears budgeting process provides the fullest range of services at the least expense. The money you give, both in dues and Circle of Giving donations is invested in high quality staff and programs. If only the stock market provided such excellent, guaranteed return on investment (ROI)!
- The Circle of Giving is also the circle of receiving: The regular GRS membership dues are subsidized by about $1000 per family; not surprisingly, in this economy, many members cannot afford full dues – and tzedakah makes it the duty and responsibility of more affluent members to help those needing assistance.
- The need is greater than ever before: To ensure the health of GRS, we need to expand our membership, and increase enrollment in our religious school. If each member brought in one new member, our budget would be transformed; encouraging new families to experience GRS is another wonderful way for all to support the Circle of Giving.
- Time is money: Some us can afford to give financially, others offer their time as volunteers, and best of all, some are able to support GRS with both time and money. No matter what your schedule or area of interest, we need you! Feel free to use your Circle of Giving pledge card to note your area of interest as a volunteer, check the new GRS website (www.grs.org) or call the office for details.
So, if you have not already done so, please take one of the pledge cards you’ll find in your pew or prayer book, and make a generous pledge of money and time to help keep your synagogue strong. If you have already pledged, and can find it in your hearts and wallets to increase that pledge, we’ll be even more appreciative.
Helen Stark and I, co-chairs of the Annual Circle of Giving, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your generosity and wish you the happiest and healthiest of New Year’s.
Shonah Tovah Tikateivu.
Sandy Soule
Helen Stark
Co-chairs, Annual Circle of Giving
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Message from Board of Trustees President, Bill Grad
It is my privilege to be president of your Board of Trustees again this year.
It is at the beginning of each year, when seeing and greeting so many GRS members and friends at high holy day services, that I feel incredibly alive and happy. It seems that the buildings themselves reflect the joy of friends greeting friends after a summer out of school and away on vacation. Seeing and hearing our young students happily gathering at the synagogue again on Sundays and Wednesdays cannot help but lift one's spirits.
I look forward to a wonderful year for our synagogue and its members.
L'shanah tovah from my family to yours,
Bill Grad
Upcoming Events
- May 19, 2012 10:00 amCynthia Crispino Bat Mitzvah
- May 20, 2012 9:30 amReligious School Mitzvah Day!
- May 20, 2012 10:30 amAdult Ed with Rabbi Rothman
- May 20, 2012 2:00 pmShavuot Seder at Greenwich Woods
- May 24, 2012 7:30 pmBoard Meeting
- May 25, 2012 6:30 pmShabbat Service