Being part of a team, attitude and cooperation are essential. Growing up, my family was always on teams…swimming, basketball, wrestling, hockey. We participated in Girl Scouts, drama club and were in the band. I also ran with an ambulance squad - Now that is team work. My parents felt it was very important to learn to work together with other people and to be cooperative and work towards a singular goal. They encouraged us to join teams even though they were inconvenienced by shlepping us all over the place for several years. My parents felt it was important to teach by example, so they were coaches, Girl Scout leaders, PTA presidents. They were involved in our lives in a very positive way.
When a coach gives a team a pep talk prior to the game and at half time, it is to build their confidence and give their team a positive outlook, enabling them to go out on the field and be the best they can be together as a cohesive group. Positive attitudes, in conjunction with adrenalin, have helped in sports and in emergency situations whereby a mom is capable of lifting a car off of her child when he/she was trapped. With a positive attitude you are capable of so much.
The attitude of the numerous volunteers at SOI has been so positive and uplifting during my term as President. When I leave our Executive Committee Meetings, it is on an upswing. No matter what we have to deal with, it is with positivity, humor and team work. Our Mishloach Manot Committee of five (because husbands are also involved) is doing the job of twenty people and always with a smile and positivity. Sam Tilonsky, with the Security Committee and the Security Greeters keep us safe each Shabbat with the attitude to protect. Our GALA Committee has so much enthusiasm, it is contagious. The Youth volunteers seem tireless and so full of great ideas and creative activities along with our Programming team. Through everything, kindness abounds.
I pray that this positivity continues. Before burn out rushes in, we need more people to step up. Most organizations are run by the same five volunteers doing the work of twenty. Our shul is run by volunteers putting in countless hours, time, and energies. I am so grateful to be president because I have met such amazing people that I would never have met otherwise. I am grateful for the countless number of volunteers doing everything from Advertising to Welcoming new families (I couldn’t think of a “z”).
SOI needs you. There is something out there of interest for everyone, if not we can create something new. On our web page, all of the committees are listed along with committee chairs and emails. If you don’t know where you fit in, lets talk and figure it out. We can meet for coffee, zoom, or chit chat over the phone. As we say in Girl Scouts, “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other is gold”. Volunteer, make new friends and be a part of something bigger than yourself…..join TEAM SOI.
Enjoy the Super Bowl and their amazing attitudes that got them to this point.
Shabbat Shalom,
Donna Moskowitz
SOI President president@soicherryhill.org