Thursday, September 21 at 7:00AM
Closing in fast! Just ten hours or so left, and we are two-thirds of the way there. Don't make Open The Gates '23 a nail-biter — give soon and fill up that meter! And to the 155 members and friends who have donated already — thank you very much again. Your tzedakah creates gateways for the cross-generational dialogue that has sustained our Torah and our tradition through the ages. Bookmark this page and check later today on the campaign's progress — we are adding everyone's names to the donor roll below. 

Wednesday, September 20 at 1PM
On our way, everyone! 20 hours into the campaign, and 90 gifts are entered already. Can we surpass Open The Gates '22 and collect 276 contributions? You'll have to keep refreshing this page to find out. We are grateful — beyond words! — for your giving hearts and partnership and investment in Beth Meyer Synagogue's growth.  Thanks so much for keeping the 'gates' of our shul community open to all. Reach out with any questions if you want to participate.

Tuesday, September 19 at 5PM
Calling Beth Meyer Synagogue members and friends!  Open the Gates: A 48-Hour Fundraiser, the annual campaign for our community, starts NOW. Before the Kol Nidre prayer service — while the celestial 'gates' that divide the heavens from earth are still open —  we aim to raise $300,000 in unrestricted gifts to build and nourish our shared Jewish home.

What motivates YOU to donate to Beth Meyer Synagogue? Click here to watch Karl Mundt, a past Trustee and the lead architect of our Open The Gates campaign, speak from the heart on  Rosh Hashanah Day One about the drivers of his and Jen's charitable giving — he credits Beth Meyer Synagogue with opening 'gates' for them and their daughters. The Mundts "draw strength" and "find solace in [sacred] community."

Beth Meyer Synagogue counts on annual charitable giving to operate programs and services essential to community-building.  Here is a snapshot of what gifts enabled in 5783:

• Design and installation of custom cubbies for our little ones at Beth Meyer Preschool — plus extra, locked storage for classroom supplies
• Professional development workshops for Naomi & Ken Kramer Religious School faculty at Songleader Boot Camp and NewCAJE14
• Outdoor electric chanukkiyah (candelabrum) to enrich our celebration of Chanukkah, the festival of lights
• Five free, catered Shabbat dinners for members — we entered Shabbat together with song, spirituality, soulful stillness, and, of course, some delightful noshes
• End-of-school-year outing for USY-ers and Kadima-niks to Carowinds (with a spur-of-the-moment pitstop at IKEA for a scavenger hunt)
• Replacement speaker systems in the Annex and Social Hall to improve sound quality
• Pizza dinner to celebrate and re-train our small-but-mighty cohort of Torah readers — we cannot thank them enough!

Over the next 48 hours, we encourage you refresh this page often and follow in live-time here and on Facebook as we race to meet our goal. Thank you so much for considering a donation of any size. Truly, we rejoice at a new gift of $18 as much as we cherish a repeat contribution of $1,000 — what matters is participation.  

A note about tipping — this is optional and benefits FundRazr, the crowdfunding platform. If you would like, you can opt out of tipping FundRazr by clicking "Change Amount" before proceeding to payment. Not comfortable donating on FundRazr or want to make a gift some other way? E-mail Jonathan Wertheim, our Executive Director, at jonathanw@bethmeyer.org — he can record your pledge and add it to the campaign total. 

One more thought: we know that generosity can take many forms. While our Open The Gates campaign counts monetary gifts, only, please reach out if you would like to donate something equally precious — your time!

G'mar tov — a good sealing in the Book of Life! Now let's get started.