“Mary Virginia and I moved to Birmingham from Montgomery about 9 years ago. Having a strong Reform Temple is incredibly important to us and it was paramount for our kids to have a good, rooted, spiritual foundation. Being involved on the Grafman Endowment Fund Board in recent years has helped me understand what an essential and strong support system that our endowment provides for our congregation — it truly is a key component that allows our Temple to operate and thrive. When you look at our facilities, our staffing, all the programming and enhancements, you begin to appreciate how a strong endowment enables a congregation of our size to do things that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to do.

We embrace contributing to the Temple’s endowment, and almost see it as a duty to pay forward what was put in place for our benefit. We have participated in the Endowment Fund’s Annual Giving program since 2012. The process for giving is simple and it is particularly attractive that we can make an impact in our own personal way, with a relatively small contribution. Again, this is due in large part, to the donors that came before us. Mary Virginia and I have found, like so many others, that once you start making an Annual Endowment Gift, it’s easy to continue and it’s a responsibility that we’re happy to fulfill. It fills a need that no other gift accomplishes — sustaining the future of our Temple.”