A Special CBY Update

Hi CBY community-

I know you’ve been bombarded with messages from just about everyone at this point, including us so I promise to keep this video as short as possible.

The alternative would have been to send you one of my epically long email updates.

When I took on this role as CBY president 9 months ago, I never thought we would face a threat that’s as uncertain, insidious and challenging to both our lives and our livelihoods. 

At CBY, we are addressing this situation on two fronts. You can think of it like a restaurant with a “front of the house” and a “back of the house” – in the front there are things we are doing that are readily visible to you while in the back there’s work taking place behind the scenes that is just as critical to our success.  

I want to start by summarizing what your Board has been doing in the “back of the house” to best insulate CBY against this pandemic.

Now those of you who know me know that I like to tell it like it is. I don’t parse my words and I don’t believe in nuance and for those of you who don’t know what I do for a living – and that includes my Mom who turned 89 on March 25^th – my expertise is in crisis management. The word “crisis” comes from “Krisis” in Greek which literally means “turning point in a disease.” In my world, we worry less about what happened to cause a crisis and focus instead on the response. CBY’s Exec Committee and the Board very quickly recognized that we needed to move deftly, prudently and proactively to best contain CBY’s exposure to this disease – spiritually, clinically, operationally and financially.  One of the first decisions we made was to not allow this crisis to create another crisis for those who have served our community throughout the years. So all of our staff, including teachers and maintenance staff, have and will be paid throughout this stay at home time period.

As you saw, we also needed to move our Un-Gala (Casino Night) to the Fall – spoiler alert, the new date is now November 5^th. This decision left us with about a $100,000 shortfall in this year’s budget. Had it not been for the Capital Campaign we would have had to tap our line of credit to borrow funds to cover this shortfall; a decision that would have placed us into a perpetual cycle of debt. The Capital Campaign also funded the very equipment we use to stream services. One of the goals of the Capital Campaign was to provide financial stability for our congregational community, and that’s exactly what it is doing. If you are amongst the 100 families who have donated to the Capital Campaign so far, I can’t thank you enough for your support.

Early last month the Board approved next year’s budget, BUT it was about two weeks before the world changed and the economy came to a screeching halt.  Just last night, the Board and Executive Committee, with tremendous help from our Budget and Finance Committee, revised and voted on a NEW budget based on likely revenue shortfalls, as well as a commitment to not make CBY membership a burden on anyone who has suffered a financial setback as a result of this current crisis.

I want to briefly preview for you the measures we are taking to harden ourselves against an economic downturn next year, which for us starts July 1:

• First of all, it is important to remember that CBY has never, and will never, deny anyone membership due to economic hardship. That is not who we are, or ever will be.
• Our original budget called for a nominal increase in both dues and b’nai mitzvah fees, we have reversed that decision and instead will keep both those costs flat for the coming year.
• For those of you who wish to fulfill your financial commitment before June 30; we will be waiving our 3% credit card fee.
• We expect that there will be members who struggle to pay their dues so we are creating a Dues Arrangement Committee to help work with those families on agreeing on an amount that works for you. All conversations and arrangements will be and will remain confidential.
• IF you have the ability to pay full dues next year, please do. IF you are able to continue to support CBY through a donation, please do. Part of the legislation that has been passed includes incentives for donations to support charities, and for good reason…we need your support. This would be true under normal circumstances as well, but all the moreso now, to help ensure that CBY continues to offer sponsorships and educational scholarships to those families most impacted by this financial upheaval.
• We are also  currently applying for a forgivable loan through the recently passed CARES Act; designed to help cover the cost of payroll, mortgage interest and other associated costs. We don’t know yet if we will get it. And if you have expertise in this area, please let us know as we could always use your help.
• Before all of this happened, we had already been negotiating a refi of our mortgage, a move that will save us over $250,000 over the next ten years; those conversations are ongoing and we are now waiting for the official commitment letter from the bank.

Phase Two of the Capital Campaign will launch when the time is appropriate, that is not today, but we do look forward to many productive conversations once we get through this crisis. To those of you who have already pledged to support the Campaign; we know that some of you may need to adjust your payment plans given current financial realities, and of course we are happy to work with you on developing a new structure that works for you.

Finally, and this is a big one, I am going to ask you in coming weeks to vote on an amendment to a resolution on the Weinstein endowment. The amendment will allow the Board to access the endowment’s principal, not just the income, to provide a greater financial safety net for our JID program in the coming years.

As for the front of the house, I want to sincerely thank Rabbi Strom, Cantor Sugarman, Melissa Cohavi, Ava Saperstein, Chip Schrager and all of our administrative and maintenance staff along with the Board and our lay leaders who run and participate in committees – for working so hard to keep CBY virtually running – spiritually by streaming services and holding Torah study, programmatically by offering opportunities for virtual engagement and educationally through remote learning for our JID and b’nai mitzvah students. 

In closing, I am humbly requesting four things from you at this time:

1) Stay connected to us and to your fellow members and anyone else in need.

2) Raise your hand if you have expertise that you think can help our members or others at this time. We would really like to be able to identify you as a resource – from serious things like help with mental health to less serious things but nonetheless important, like tips on how to stay fit or make a great meal.

3) Please be on the lookout for an email inviting you to our virtual annual meeting tentatively scheduled for May 4^th and to vote online  this month on some very important matters including the mortgage re-fi, the amendment to the Weinstein endowment, contract extensions for Rabbi Strom and Melissa Cohavi and a slate of new board members and officers. Getting out to vote has never ever been more important than now. 

4) And, please remember to sign up for our emergency texting system by texting the word “alert” to the number “22300.”

On a more personal note, I have had to make some really tough business decisions this past week and I know many of you had to do the same, or you may have been impacted by the decisions of others.  I will tell you what I told my staff and CBY’s Board…

Even though there is no end in sight at the moment, this will end. It’s important to remember that we all have choices. I am choosing optimism over negativity, empathy over apathy, grit over surrender and collaboration over isolation – even in this time of social distancing.  You may be at home, but you are never alone.

There’s an old saying that crisis does not build character, it reveals it. CBY’s collective character, and resolve has never been stronger and our community is unflappable.

Part of what separates us from other types of nonprofits or businesses is that we are truly, a family of families. We celebrate together when things are going well and we lift each other up in times of struggle. Please know that not only am I here for you, not only is the clergy, leadership, and staff here for you, but the entire community of CBY is here for you. Whatever you need, whenever you need it; you have to just ask.

Thank you for your continued support and faith in CBY. And feel free to reach me at Aaron@CBYArmonk.org if you want to connect.

A reminder that the unGala was postponed, not canceled, and we look forward to the end of “social distancing” so that we may celebrate together on November 5^th.

From my family to yours, I wish you all good health.

Aaron Kwittken, Temple President