In This Issue:
- May Meeting
- President's Message
- Don't buy Groceries Until You Read This!
- Great Opportunity!
- Looking for Art? Look No Further!
- Member News
- "And the Oscar Goes to..."
- Rosh Hashana in April
- Start Spreading the News
- ORT Around the World
February, 2004
March, 2003
February, 2002
October/November, 2001
April/May, 2001
February, 2001
December/January, 2000–2001)
October, 2000
May, 2000
 SVORT Bulletin Archives: April/May 2001 |
||
|
Kathy makes a compelling case that housework is the third job in families that nobody has time to do and offers some concrete tips for delegating chores to hired help. Whether you are married or single, you don’t have to feel guilty if you can’t do everything! An award-winning writer and speaker and mother of two, Kathy is a veteran of the computer industry who found that hiring household help was the only workable solution to balancing work and family. A Housekeeper Is Cheaper Than a Divorce ($19.95, trade paperback, ISBN 0-9679636-0-5) will be available for sale during the meeting. It can also be purchased at any bookstore, at www.lifetoolspress.com, or by calling toll-free 866-LIFE TOOLS. More information about the book is available at the website. The meeting will be held at the home of Wendy Peikes at 7:30 p.m. by Hayley Green Smith As we all know, we are experiencing an economic slowdown. The stock market has seen better days, and many companies are experiencing layoffs. Stock market woes are global and are affecting the Israeli high-tech industry. According to the April 14 San Jose Mercury News, Israel has 150 companies listed in our stock markets-all but 30 are high-tech. This situation has resulted in losses that “have sliced 60–80 percent off the value of some businesses...and about 5000 people have been laid off in Israel’s tech sector” in the last six months.
A default by WAO on its commitment to WO will impact all worldwide ORT programs—especially ORT Israel—as we are the biggest donor to World ORT. To make matters worse, due to the Palestinian uprising, Israel’s Ministry of Education has delayed payments to ORT Israel. As a result, ORT Israel has had to borrow money to pay teacher salaries and keep the schools open. What does this mean for Silicon Valley ORT? We have 348 names on our mailing list. Of those, 35 are Life Members, many of whom continue to send in Donor funds, defined as $100 or more above your basic Dues; 117 are current members for the 2000–’01 fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2001, many of whom also send in Donor funds; 103 have not paid dues or given donations for up to three years. National drops these people from the rolls, and we follow that practice locally. This means that they will not receive our bulletin, the RepORTer magazine from National, or invitations to our events. In addition, 93 of you are on our list as prospective members who have not yet joined our organization. Hopefully, by now you are thinking, “What can I do to help?” Well, the good news is that the Silicon Valley chapter is only $7,500 away from our assignment of $36,000 to National. Any money sent in beyond your basic Dues counts toward this total. When you receive a call or a letter asking you to renew or signup, please help our students and give as much as your means allow. If half of the members who have not paid dues in up to three years were to write a check for $125 to cover this year’s membership (through June 30) and Donor contribution, we would raise $5,200. In addition, if half of everyone reading this who is not a member did the same thing, we would raise another $4,700. As an additional bonus, new memberships would be good through June 30, 2002! Of course, if you can do more, that would be great. The bottom line is whether you are a current member, renewing member, or a prospective member, we are happy to receive any gift you can give. Gifts over $2,500 can be earmarked for ORT programs in the USA, Israel, or elsewhere. If you would like to save us a stamp or a phone call, you can send your check, payable to Women’s American ORT, to me. If you would like more information about ORT, you can call me or email me at hayley@svort.org. Additionally, you can find announcements for local chapter events and information about worldwide ORT programs www.svort.org. Thank you for any assistance you can give our program at this critical time! by Wendy Fotland You have to eat, so why not help ORT at the same time? Register for eScrip, and ORT gets a percentage of every dollar you spend at participating merchants. You pay $10 per year to be a member, and give hundreds of dollars to ORT without spending another extra dime. Here’s how it works: you register your grocery store loyalty cards; and credit cards or ATM cards if you want, with eScrip. Then, you show your grocery card, or use your credit card at participating stores where you usually shop, and ORT gets money. If you only want to register your Safeway card, that’s fine. If you are already doing eScrip for your child’s school or another group, you can have your donation split equally between that group and ORT for $5 extra per year. Stores enrolled include Safeway, Pak 'n Save, Cosentino’s, Mollie Stone’s, Draeger’s Market, Eddie Bauer, Budget Rent A Car, Old Navy, The Sharper Image, and many more. Check eScrip’s website, www.escripinc.com, for a complete list. There are several ways to register: (use ORT’s group ID# 5203965)
It’s free money—don’t waste it!! by Wendy Fotland You may have already heard that the gift wrap team of Susan Hertzberg and Wendy Fotland are stepping down for 2001. This creates an opportunity for someone new to take a leadership position to make gift wrap 2001 as successful as last year! Of course, Susan and I will be happy to offer guidance to whomever takes over our jobs next year. The job could be split into a scheduler and a person in charge of booth setup, tear down and maintenance, as Susan & I did it, or any way you like. (Evelyn Howard is still available to bring supplies from storage to the booth.) It may seem a bit early to be talking about gift wrap, but supplies need to be ordered in August, we need to negotiate a contract with the mall, etc. And frankly, if no one volunteers to head this project, then we’re going to have to come up with another way to earn $15,000. If you are interested in being on the gift wrap committee, please email Hayley at hayley@svort.org. Please don’t be afraid to volunteer for gift wrap, even if you don’t want to be in charge. Whoever takes on the job of coordinating gift wrap will be happy to have whatever assistance you can give. Please volunteer to be a phoner, help with setup, etc. We will once again be using the website to make scheduling easier. If you’ve never taken a big part in gift wrap before, don’t worry, we’ll train! We need everyone’s help to make this fundraiser a success. by Nancy McMahon Our Chapter will hold the 9th annual Art for ORT show and sale on Sunday, June 3, 2001, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 601 Coleridge in Palo Alto. As in past years, Francine and Marcel Gani have again graciously opened their front yard for this fabulous fundraiser. Look for your postcard invitation in the mail sometime in May. Many returning artists include Pola Harrel and Kirsten Stein (sculptures), Shigemi Sanders (pottery), Hugo Lecaros and David Broad (watercolors), Tove Norlander (jewelry) and Yu-Tang Wang (ceramics) to name a few. There will also be a handful of new artists. This is a perfect outing for you and your family or friends! And 30% of your purchase is a charitable contribution to ORT. Come and suppORT your students! We look forward to seeing you! If you have any questions, please call Nancy McMahon. by Wendy Fotland Silicon Valley ORT’s Academy Awards party was once again a rousing success and lots of fun! Fourteen members and guests attended to watch the show, predict the winners, eat, drink and be merry. The food was tasty and plentiful and the company was outstanding! Wendy and David Fotland, voting separately, were tied in first place, each correctly guessing five Oscar winners. But we didn’t cheat, really! Just because it was our house and David did the scoring, is no reason to think the results were rigged in any way. Wendy Peikes and date, Rick, had a second place finish with 4 and a half correct answers. (They chose Steven Soderbergh for best director, but didn’t specify for which movie, earning half a point from David.) The remaining prizes went to Sheryl Rattner, Ina Minei & Einat Nagar, who each correctly predicted four Oscar winners. Plan to join us next year for another great evening! by Hayley Green Smith Our ORT chapter is selling honey for Rosh Hashana. Each eight-ounce gift jar of kosher honey is a wonderful way to wish your family, friends, and business associates a “Sweet and Healthy New Year.” All jars are packed individually and can be shipped anywhere in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, and will include a personalized card reading “Best Wishes for a Healthy and Happy New Year.” Each jar costs $8.00 and all proceeds benefit ORT. Order forms are enclosed with this bulletin and additional forms can be copied, downloaded from our website, or requested from Hayley Green Smith. All orders must be returned to Hayley by June 23, 2001. Silicon Valley ORT is able to send 2 delegates based on our membership. Doug Smith and Nicole Mason will be our Chapter Delegates to the Convention. Convention will give participants opportunities to meet other ORTists from around the country, hear ORT students speak of their experiences, and hear first-hand accounts about ORT programs worldwide from ORT Directors. Even though Nicole and Doug are our Delegates, anyone is welcome to attend Convention as a guest. For more information contact Hayley at hayley@svort.org or check out the Convention website at http://www.waort.org/convention2001.htm. Celebrating its 80th anniversary, ORT France, with seven schools and centers in Paris, Strasbourg, Lyon, Toulouse and Marseilles, is the largest network of schools and colleges in Western Europe. A two-year work-study program for post-graduate students was introduced in Marseilles, Lyon and Montreuil. Students work three days a week and attend classes the other two days. The school in Paris has launched computer classes specifically geared to the needs of companies wanting to retrain and upgrade new employees. Spain ORT-installed multimedia workstations at the Estella Toledano School in Madrid and the Colegio Sefardi in Barcelona link students to ORTnet, and Jewish schools and databases worldwide. The curriculum includes science, math, information technology, Judaic studies and Hebrew. Adult courses are offered in computer literacy, word processing, spreadsheets and computer-aided design. |
