Ah, summer. As a child, the summer months meant fun, camp, swimming, and freedom from school. I did not give too much thought to the year behind me and only some thought to the next year, mostly who would be my next teacher and if my friends would be in my class.
As an adult and an educator, the view from the other side of the desk is a little different. Now, each summer I reflect on the past year, often with some regret, with thoughts of “I should have done this and I wanted to do that.”
This year, ECE-RJ was at the center of my reflection, and I had many “I wish we hads” and “I wanted tos.” Until the ECE-RJ Board, your board, our board, made a list of accomplishments. I was blown away. While, for many of us, this past and unprecedented year felt overwhelming and that we were barely keeping our head above water, these are some of the things that we, you and I, ECE-RJ did:
- We partnered with the URJ in a webinar to bring attention to the new needs of our centers, directors, and teachers.
- We held a phenomenal virtual conference with presenters from Israel, Germany, Iceland and Australia, and North America.
- We strengthened partnerships with other Early Childhood Jewish organizations.
- We elevated our UNITE newsletter and enhanced our social media presence.
- We assembled more and stronger committees.
- We held our first fundraising event, very successfully.
- We increased the number of Meet-Ups and offered social, as well as professional, opportunities for meeting and sharing.
- We worked with congregational leaders to support their early childhood centers and programs.
- We increased the help and support for each other through our professional forums.
Look at what we, ECE-RJ did. In a pandemic. In a year when sometimes just making it through the day felt like a win, look what we did. And we did it together. Imagine what ECE-RJ can do in 2021-2022.
