Like many organizations, (PJC) looks for ways to provide social programming without incurring high costs for members or the synagogue. Hence, the progressive dinner – an informal and inexpensive evening, where members mingle and get to know each other a little better.
Here's how a PJC progressive dinner works. First attendees gather at one site for appetizers before breaking into smaller groups and moving on elsewhere for dinner, and then reuniting at PJC with everyone for dessert, many of them homemade. Some members host or co-host the dinner with enough food for six to 10 people, while others bring an appetizer or dessert. The emphasis is all about getting together, and swapping stories – nothing else.
"It's really one of my very favorite events," said PJC member Sandy Ehrlich, who attended the synagogue's late October event. "It's a membership event and not a fundraising event that truly brings the congregation together as a family."
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All well-run event require an organizer or two, and this year Port residents Rochelle Potak and Laury Kassell ran the show. First everyone first congregated at the Ehrlichs for appetizers and drinks. Toward the end of the cocktail hour, participants found out which one of six host families they were going to for dinner. The idea was to put people together in each house who might not know each other very well.
"What's always wonderful about this event is that there is no agenda other than to have a wonderful time and make people feel welcome, creating warm ties betweenlong-time members as well as newer ones," Potak said.
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To help families save money the PJC Youth Group provided free babysitting at the synagogue, enabling more people to attend the evening.
Those families who dined at the house of the Kogans, one of the hosts, were in for a Russian themed-treat, complete with vodka and songs. But word has it, all the families enjoyed.
As Potak put it, "The fact that people are willing to open up their homes and extend their hospitality to the entire PJC community is very special."
