2020 Annual Meeting
Safety and Security Committee Annual Report

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Let me begin with some good news; on April 21st, 2020 The Security Committee of the MVHC was awarded a grant for $19,000.  from the Commonwealth Nonprofit Security Grant Program . There announcement to us read:

“From: "McGuirk, Patricia H (EPS)" < patricia.h.mcguirk@state.ma.us>
Subject:  CNSGP Award Notification
Congratulations!  Your organization has been selected to receive a FY2020 Commonwealth Nonprofit Security Grant Program award.  Attached to this email you will find an award letter from both the Governor’s Office and OGR. 
This was a very competitive process.  You should be very proud of this accomplishment as you are 1 of 67 awardees.  Please understand that we received 200 proposals and due to limited funding and in an effort to try and award as many applicants as possible, OGR wasn’t able to honor most of our awardee’s full request”.

We owe a huge amount of appreciation to Ann Palches who stepped in with little notice and put together a complete and thorough grant proposal. Sally, Max, Sharon and Rob managed the process  getting forms submitted as I was in Africa when this grant proposal needed to be completed. Without their diligence this award would not have been received.
This money will be used for 2 improvement projects: 

• Replacement of our outdated entry system that is no longer secure to be replaced by a new state of the art keyless entry system with monitors located in many locations throughout the building allowing those in the building to always know who is being permitted to enter. Alex Salop is managing this aspect of the grant.
• Construction of a bulkhead in to the basement that will allow the basement to function as a secure and “safe” place to shelter in the event of a threatening event. There will be additional “safe” locations created on the main floor.


• Prior to the onset of Covid in early March Adam Darack installed a state of the art surveillance camera system that covers the complete perimeter of the building. This system has DVR backup and can produce still image photographs of all and any events that ever occur. Stickers have been placed on many windows informing the public that this system is in place and functioning. Our intention in placing these stickers is that they will act as a deterrent to any person with ill intentions.

In 2019 we completed prior phases of our efforts to make our building and congregants safe at all times. Those initiatives were:

• Police details present at all events that gathered significant groups of people.
• 2 sessions of the “Alice” Training to educate congregants on active responses to a threatening event.
• Distress buttons installed and present to keep us safe and in touch with the police if needed.
• Due to the pandemic and the subsequent need to have our services and events held remotely and online our security budget is in excellent financial shape as it was no longer necessary to have the police details which were the biggest expense items we faced. As well the grant we received from the Commonwealth covered the costs of the 2 other improvements we were planning to make, the new keyless entry system and the bulkhead in to the basement.

To date the Safety & Security Committee is always thinking of steps we can take to make our synagogue safe for all of us. Our committee consists of a good group of volunteers that meet as needed.
Respectfully Submitted,
Elliot Kronstein
Chairperson, Safety and Security Committee

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