Jewish Graduate Student Association Budget

Foundation grants from local and national organizations (e.g. Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh, Schusterman Foundation).

Two welcome back lunches (one in the fall and one in the spring semester) to get the word out about our organization, let our new members get to know each other, and exchange programming ideas and preferences. This amount is for buying food and beverages from pomegranate, the on-campus kosher food vendor, and is based on how much we spent on this event in the fall of 2013.

The JFC will fund $100 per semester for food for rush/recruitment, $200 per semester for food at events, $5 per person per semester for food for general body meetings, and $15 per person per event for food at a cultural event, at a cap to 2 events.

Bi-weekly Jewish learning sessions will be held in the afternoon on topics related to Judaism that are of interest to our members, (for example, Kabbalah, which we have been doing recently). We are asking for this money to cover snacks and beverages at the event, and this estimate is based on $30/event x 2/month x 3 months/semester x 2 semesters ($30 is the average amount of money we've been spending on snacks at the Kabbalah learning sessions).

Already funded the max for general body meeting food.

Israeli wine tasting open to entire CMU community (21+) for 5 years running. Attendance has been ~30. Funds will be used to cover kosher catering.

This money will subsidize the cost of food for an annual Passover Seder open to the entire community. Passover is a particularly important time for us to observe and celebrate our heritage, and also a difficult time for students to travel home for the holiday. This event provides a local place for students to gather at this reflective time. Attendance is expected to be about 30 people. This is also a great opportunity for non-Jews to familiarize themselves with this holiday and clarify any misconceptions they might have. Non-Jews that attended it last year had greatly enjoyed it.

JFC funds up to 200 for food for refreshments at events

This money will subsidize the cost of food for an annual Rosh HaShanah (the Jewish new year) Seder open to the entire community. Rosh HaShanah is a particularly important time for us to observe and celebrate our heritage, and also a difficult time for students to travel home for the holiday. This event provides a local place for students to gather at this reflective time. Attendance is expected to be about 30 people. This is also a great opportunity for non-Jews to familiarize themselves with this holiday and clarify any misconceptions they might have. Non-Jews that attended it last year had greatly enjoyed it.

JFC funds up to 200 for refreshments for events

Hanukkah is the Jewish festival of lights, and it tends to happen right around the time when people are stressed out about studying for finals. We provide an opportunity for them to relieve some of the stress and also connect with their heritage by organizing a Hanukkah-themed study break, where they have an opportunity to play with draydls, light candles, and eat sufganiyot (Jewish donuts)--the traditional Hanukkah activities.

Tu B'Shevat is the Jewish holiday that celebrates the trees, and the spring and rebirth in general. It is customary to plant trees as a way to celebrate it. We would like to hold a similar event, where we would provide people with pots, seeds, and land to create their own plants that they can put in their offices, to create a greener looking campus. This money to cover the cost of seeds, soil, and pots.

Largest shabbat dinner for grad students across all Pittsburgh area campuses and professional schools. Co-sponsoring catered dinner (this includes the 300 that Israel on Campus wanted towards this event, as for FY14) Between Israel on Campus and Jewish Graduate Student Association need 450.

Israel on Campus has money for this.

We would like to start doing some community-building events, such as board game nights and movie nights, where our members can get to know each other in a relaxed, non-religious setting. We are asking for $500 to cover food and beverages at such events.

For the board game nights, we need to purchase board games (e.g. Jewish Apples to Apples), for movie nights movies, and so on.

We would like to host several Jewish cooking events throughout the year, where we would cook together traditional Jewish meals from around the globe (e.g. Eastern Europe, Northern Africa, the Middle East) to showcase that Jewish cuisine is as diverse as the Jewish people themselves

We would like to hold Jewish dance workshops on several unique styles, including Israeli dancing and Yiddish dance. The money would be used to cover the salary and travel expenses of the dance instructors.

We would like to have several Yiddish cultural events, including movie nights and joint events with the CMU klezmer band throughout the year. The money would be used to cover the cost of snacks, beverages, and other supplies (such as copyright fee to screen a movie).

JFC funds 200 for food at events