I must confess back in the days when I was a political writer for The San
Diego Union (1972-1980), I was cynical about the proclamations and
resolutions doled out by legislative bodies and elected officials. Just
another way to butter up some fat cat, I would have said back then.
We mellow with age, or perhaps we eventually gain wisdom. I left journalism
for a while to try my hand at political consulting, and one of the gigs I
had for seven months in 1983 was service as press secretary/communications
director for Bill Cleator, then serving as San Diego's acting mayor. He was
a Republican and I was a Democrat, but that's another story.

Among the duties of my department was preparation of proclamations and
resolutions thanking this or that citizen for his or her important
contribution to the welfare of San Diegans. The honoree might have been
someone who was retiring after a lifetime of volunteering, or someone else
who had consistently donated to charity, or maybe someone who not only
permitted, but encouraged, employees to donate their time pro bono for the
public good.

Using the format of WHEREAS, WHEREAS and NOW THEREFORE, we'd enumerate the
good citizen's good deeds and then ask the council to formally vote to
declare it to be Citizen So-and-So Day in San Diego.

It was amazing to me at first how emotional some of the recipients of these
proclamations became. Tears would stream down some of their faces as they
accepted the award and thanked the mayor and City Council for thanking them..
Sometimes I would have occasion to visit past honorees at their homes or
businesses and would note the prominent place such resolutions would have on
a wall or upon a credenza.

Thank-yous really had a powerful effect, I realized. The power of praise, in
fact, might be one of the most important powers governments posses.
The effect of praise, I learned, was not only on the recipient, but also on
people who would pass by the framed resolutions day after day. Reading how
the City of San Diego officially recognized someone for his or her good
deeds inspired others to emulate the commended behavior. It wasn't so much
that they wanted a resolution up on their walls too, as it was the knowledge
that if they did commit themselves to good deeds, it really would be
noticed.

That's why I was excited to learn recently that the United Jewish Federation
has decided to scrap the old Super Sunday fundraising telethon and use the
same Sunday, instead, for a mass community thank-you festival that will be
called, in Hebrew, Yom Shel Todah  (Day of Thanks).

For 20 years, volunteers not only from the United Jewish Federation but from
synagogues, Jewish agencies and organizations from throughout the county
gathered on Super Sunday and telephoned people to ask them for more money.
Occasionally, the recipients of these phone calls would grumble that this
was the only time they ever heard from the organized Jewish community -- when
they were being hit up for a contribution.

This year, Steve Solomon, a psychologist who is the son of a long-time
activist Jewish family, is heading up the strategic planning and fundraising
campaigns of the United Jewish Federation. He recommended that, instead of
using that big day of gathering at the Lawrence Family JCC to ask people for
money, Super Sunday instead be used as a day for developing a sense of
community. 

Instead of asking people for future gifts, let them know how much their past
gifts have been appreciated.

That's not to say that the Federation won't be asking you for money on other
occasions. UJF requires money -- in fact, more than ever before --to finance
programs meeting many needs for an ever-expanding Jewish community in San
Diego County. But the much-vaunted Super Sunday, a day of hooplah, a day
when Jews from all over the county come together in a joint effort, will be
not for fundraising, but for saying thanks.

Thank you, Mr. So-and-So, for your past contributions to the United Jewish
Federation. Thank you, Mrs. Such-and-Such, for all the work you do, not only
in behalf of Federation, but also for your synagogue, for the Agency for
Jewish Education and so forth. Your contributions and your volunteer time
are so appreciated!

Then, when the recipient of the phone call is expecting the other shoe to
drop -- that is, for all those nice compliments to be followed up with a
solicitation -- he or she will be quite surprised. There will be no
solicitation, just a pleasant goodbye, or perhaps a thanks again!

Psychologist Solomon said the validation extended to past contributors or
volunteers not only will make them feel good, it also will be of great
benefit to the people saying thanks. He said the compliment-givers will feel
as special as the recipients, because they too will know that they are
helping to build the Jewish community.

The goal of the United Jewish Federation, he said, is to build community.
Fundraising is a means to reach that goal, but not the goal itself.
Yom Shel Todah will be Sunday, Feb. 2, under the joint leadership of Ron
Marcus, a marketing executive, and Dalya Rubanenko, a chiropractor, who are
active members of the Young Leadership Division of the United Jewish
Federation.

Marcus said the entire day will be a community celebration, not only on the
phone, but at the JCC itself, where there will be speakers, entertainment,
refreshments, fellowship -- and the sense that we're working together for the
betterment of us all.