Blog #6

It was gala day and everyone was super excited! Ellie and I made a quick Starbucks run first thing in the morning since we knew we needed some caffeine to get this big day started. We headed over to Beachwood High School (the venue of the gala) to get started on some last-minute preparations and decorations. Yosef, Ellie, and I carried all of the boxes containing the gift bags into the auditorium and onto the stage. We divided the gift bags by gender, alphabetical order by last name, and the three major award categories — mayoral, senate, and presidential. Sorting the bags into the proper order took a lot of time because they were all mixed up and out of order, however, we got to enjoy some background music from the Friendship Circle band's rehearsal. 

After sorting the bags, Ellie and I began arranging the bags in the auditorium. The teen boy volunteer bags were placed on the left side and the teen girl volunteer bags on the right. This is because men and women are separated in synagogues and during traditional Jewish services. We are able to fully join together in Jewish services by sitting separately since it is only when both male and female spiritual energies are allowed to develop that we are complete as a community. The bags had to be placed in a specific arrangement in order to match the order in which the volunteers walk on the stage. In alphabetical order by last name, we placed the mayor awards first, followed by the senate awards, the presidential awards, and the ultimate service awards. 

Ellie and I then had to arrange more gala awards in alphabetical order on the stage after setting up the gift bags. The names of the volunteers were imprinted on these personalized awards, which were shaped like trees. While being transported from Friendship Circle, some of the tree's stands broke, so we had to use some super glue to put them back together, but other than that, they looked fantastic. 

Due to another commitment, I was unable to attend the gala, but I did watch it live on the Friendship Circle's Instagram. Ellie told me that everything went so smoothly and turned out to be exactly as we had intended. I'm so happy that all of our efforts paid off and made the nights of so many adults and teenagers. This made me realize how impactful it is to perform even the smallest acts of kindness or mitzvot. 



Comments

  1. Mr. CMay 30, 2023 at 7:00 AM

    It's great to hear how smoothly the event went. All that careful planning and attention to detail really paid off!

    ReplyDelete

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