Friendship Circle International, a division of the Shluchim Office, has recently begun a new and exciting series of online webinars for Shluchim and staff members of the network helping special needs.
The webinars provide training workshops on relevant topics and programs, and are lead by a Shliach or professional with a large amount of experience in the given area. The participating Shluchim and staff members are given a great venue for networking and gaining from the experiences of their peers, as well as receiving additional training opportunities throughout the year.
The webinars are live, and feature a short 30 minute presentation by the speaker, who can be seen and heard via a webcam and microphone. The program is then concluded with a Q&A session, allowing the participants to join in via chat. Each webinar is also recorded, and will be added to the Friendship Circle International resource library for Shluchim to refer to in the future.
The topics for the webinars are chosen based on either a large scale interest, or seasonal program need. Shluchim themselves are encouraged to give suggestions of what they feel they’d like to see in the next presentation.
Shluchim found the past two webinars to be informative and a helpful resource
The first webinar on the topic of “Planning a Friendship Circle Walk” was presented this past February by Rabbi Eli Laber of the Conejo Valley Friendship Circle.
It included guidance in determining when a Friendship Circle should consider beginning a Walk fundraiser in their community, how to maximize the fundraising potential, as well as other helpful advice and tips.
The second webinar, which took place about a week after Purim, was on a more general topic, managing Friendship Circle’s flagship program, “Friends at Home” and presented by Mrs. Shaina Teitelbuam of the Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh.
In her presentation, Mrs. Teitelbaum suggested various systems and techniques that could be used to keep up a consistent and organized program. After the presentation, 3 other Friendship Circle directors joined the speaker for the Q&A session, and the participants had the opportunity to learn from even more ideas and experiences.
The third webinar is currently being prepared, and will take place on Monday, 26 Iyar/May 30th. Rabbi Shmaya Shmotkin of the Friendship Circle of Milwaukee, WI will be presenting on the topic of obtaining Foundation Grants.
FCI is looking forward to offering more resources such as these to benefit the many Friendship Circles worldwide! For more information on the webinars, email [email protected].
Friendship Circle International is directed by Rabbi Bentzion Groner. The Executive Committee consists of Rabbis Levi Shemtov on Michigan, Zalman Grossbaum of New Jersey, Yossi Marozov of Ohio, Sholom Ber Lipskar of Florida, Gedalya Shemtov of New York and Yitzchak Wolf of Chicago.
For more info, visit FriendshipCircle.com
Such an amazing and incredible shliach! The Shmotkins are so incredible with all that they do