Parking for Good

Parking for Good is the Kehillah effort to raise money for local charities by renting parking spaces during UNC men’s basketball home games.  During the 2014-15 basketball season, this effort raised over $8,000, which was distributed to the Inter-faith Council, Justice United of Orange County, and Habitat for Humanity of Orange County.

If You’d Like to Help Park for 2017-2018 Basketball Season

Click here to see the schedule and sign up.

More details

The job simply entails collecting fees as people enter the lot and ensuring that people park in proper spaces. (Note: You do not park anyone’s car.) We are fortunate this year to have twelve games for which we can collect for charity! Beneficiaries will be Habitat for Humanity, the Inter-Faith Council, and Justice United Orange County. We will need 2-3 fee collectors per game, with at least one collector, preferably two, who can stay until 15 minutes beyond the start time for the game, and one collector who can get the monies collected to the Kehillah office within a day or two after the game.

Click here to see the schedule and sign up.

Or, if you’d prefer, email hjchase72 AT gmail DOT com with (1) a list of dates that would work for you, (2) how many total times (if you have a limit) that you would like to volunteer, and (3) verification of whether you can stay until 15 minutes after the game start time and/or can get the monies to the Kehillah office. A schedule will be put together and you’ll be notified of your time slot(s) as soon as possible. You’ll also get more detailed instructions, although the job is not a complicated or difficult one. Please email hjchase72 AT gmail DOT com with any other questions that you may have.

Thank you all in advance for volunteering for this good work. If you see a group of Tzaddikim-Good People standing near you, stand up and hug them and kiss them and hug them again. Ecclesiastes Rabba 3:5, 1

Job Description for Parking for Good Coordinator 

We need someone to coordinate this effort for future basketball seasons.  This is a job that can be done in spare moments from home and for which the good being done is immediate and clear!  A detailed description of what needs to be done is below.  This job is filled for the 2015-16 season; please contact Ava (ava AT nackman DOT com) or Lee (lee AT nackman DOT com) if you would like to discuss taking on this satisfying role in the future.

  1. Get the UNC-CH Basketball Schedule as early as possible (it becomes available on http://www.goheels.com/) and make a list of all home games/dates/times.
  2. Based on the following established guidelines, determine the games for which we can potentially provide parking and collect for charity:
    1. Parking cannot be conducted by our congregants during Shabbat.  Shabbat is defined as beginning at sundown on Friday and ending 25 minutes after sundown on Saturday.  Parking must therefore begin more than 25 minutes after sundown at the completion of Shabbat.  The following provides easy access to sunset times: http://sunrisesunsetmap.com/
    2. Parking  also cannot occur on Jewish holidays or when the synagogue has an event scheduled.
    3. However, if  the members of the Community Church across the street are doing parking on Shabbat or a holiday, it is OK to let them use our lot for overflow parking as long as no event or service is ongoing at the Kehillah and the parking commences after 2 PM on Shabbat (to allow members attending services or a B’nei Mitzvah luncheon to largely clear out of the lot).  So, a separate list should be created for dates where we could potentially offer use of our lot to the Community Church volunteers.
  3. Email these lists to Mary (Interim Kehillah Executive Director) for verification of the dates.  She will ensure that a holiday or an event is not scheduled that you are not aware of.  Generally, we park for eight to ten games each season.
  4. Once you have the approved lists, contact the Community Church parking representative (you will need to contact the church office to determine who currently has that responsibility) and provide them with the list of games where they can use our lot for overflow.  Also ask them if there are any dates when their lot is available but they cannot provide volunteers for parking.  We have agreed to collaborate and should be able to use their lot for overflow during these times.
  5. Create a spreadsheet  of needed volunteers by date/times.  Volunteers should be in place one hour before game time and should remain until 15 minutes following game time.  A minimum of two volunteers should be scheduled for each game, but three is better, although not essential.   If we are also parking in the Community Church lot, a minimum of four volunteers is required.  Volunteers do not need to be Kehillah members (we have several regular volunteers who are not), but at least one Kehillah member should commit to remain until the end of parking and should be responsible for getting the cash to the Kehillah office within a day or two after the parking session.  You will be provided with a complete list of emails of previous volunteers.  We can also publicize our need for volunteers in the Kehillah newsletter and emails and at services (prepare a timely blurb and forward it to the Social Action co-chairs at lee@nackman.com or ava@nackman.com).  As people volunteer, send them a confirmation email.   Try to create a list of “backup” people in case a volunteer can’t attend at the last minute.
  6. A few days before each game, email a reminder to the volunteers for that session with specific instructions.  These are simple:
    • Try to park up at the front of the Kehillah to allow maximum room for paying customers.
    • Put out the signs located outside next to the Kehillah air conditioning units (they are covered to protect them from the elements) at the entrances to the parking lot.
    • Station yourself at the lot entrances and collect $10 for each car parked.  Explain that the money goes directly to charity and, if the parker is interested, provide the information on what those charities are (this will be decided at the September Social Action Committee meeting).
    • Bring about $60 in small bills with you so that you can make appropriate change for the first few parkers.
    • Every parker pays, even if they have a weekday parking pass for our lot.  (There may be a person or two who pay for an evening pass to the lot and that person can park for free.  Also, any parking volunteer who is also attending the game can park for free.)
    • After the parking session ends, return the signs back to next to the air conditioning units and cover them.
    • Whoever brings the cash to the Kehillah office should count the money with Stephanie or Anne and sign off on the amount left.
  7. Before the first parking session, verify with Stephanie that the signs are where they should be.  Provide  her with a list of parking dates so that she knows that someone should be bringing money in shortly afterwards.   Ask her to email you the amount collected so that you know a deposit came in and can track donations to date.  The social action co-chairs will email you before  Social Action meetings requesting a status update on collections.