Congregation Beth Israel, Texas’ oldest Reform congregation and one of the most respected in the country, has embarked on a capital improvement and renovation project funded through a capital campaign, The Promise for Tomorrow is Today. Through this campaign, the Congregation is raising $10 million to complete the implementation of the Temple’s master plan.
Funds raised through the campaign, The Promise for Tomorrow is Today, will enable the Congregation to complete urgent and necessary renovation and improvements to the Temple; finalize the long desired acquisition of additional cemetery property adjacent to the Congregation Beth Israel Memorial Garden; and permanently establish a long-needed facilities maintenance fund. Beginning in late 2006, the Congregation raised $6.1 million in the silent phase of this campaign. Led by Campaign Co-Chairmen Jay Golding and Phillip Ladin, the Capital Campaign steering committee comprised of leaders from a number of the Temple’s leading families, are now turning to the broader congregation for support.
Pressing Needs Drive a Plan for the Future
This Campaign will ensure that Congregation Beth Israel will have the space and resources it needs to continue the innovative, spiritual and inspirational programming for which it is so well known. Beth Israel’s growth is driven by the excellence of its programs and leadership. When the present facility opened in 1967, no one could have predicted that the Temple’s services and programs would be so well received or that membership would grow so quickly. This growth has put pressure on its facilities, particularly those infrastructure elements that have not been updated since 1967. In 2000, the Board of Trustees fully evaluated the synagogue’s facilities and infrastructure, and developed a comprehensive master plan to expand and improve the North Braeswood facilities. In late 2006 a new facilities and financial assessment was developed by the Board of Trustees, and four goals were established as top priorities:
• First, address urgent need to improve and renovate the mechanical infrastructure of the Hurwitz Building, constructed in 1967. Local contractors,
Pepper-Lawson and Holste & Associates, Inc., firms that worked with the Temple in 2000, have developed plans to address our facility needs, which include the complete replacement of Beth Israel’s aged air conditioning and heating systems. Substantial upgrades to the plumbing, electrical systems and other elements of the Temple’s infrastructure are also needed.
• Second, acquire additional cemetery property for the Congregation Beth Israel Antoine Memorial Garden, which is necessary to ensure that future generations of Beth Israel congregants will be able to be interred with their families. Some limitations exist in this area but the Temple has negotiated to buy the only plot of land available to our cemetery from the city. We must act swiftly and seize this opportunity.
• Third, establish maintenance reserves so that the Congregation will have both beautiful facilities and the financial resources to care for them in the future.
This reserve will enable the Temple to address emergency repairs and ensure that the building will be a well-equipped and well-maintained house of worship for prayer, celebrations and learning. The fund is designed to alleviate emergency expenditures for major facility improvements.
• Fourth, retire the construction loan associated with the building expansion and renovation in 2002. Being debt free will ensure the Congregation can operate in future years with a balanced budget while maintaining high quality service to its members.