A Grand Day in Boston

After my last post I'm sure you all are wondering how yesterday went. I am happy to report that it was a resounding success. It was a long day to be sure (15 hrs long to be exact) but I'm confident it was the first step in building a solid foundation for the Corporation and the Federation. I couldn't be happier or more excited.

The day started of with a meeting with Professors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Massachusetts. The Corporation was interested in developing a sled on conjunction with their engineering departments. I'm elated to report that after a few phone conversations and this in person meeting they have agreed to submit a concept design that the Corporation has acquired as a student project for testing and development. The timeline foe the project is basically a calendar year, with a ready to race sled being produced next summer. Although the students will not be making suggestions directly for the make of the frame they will be working with the Corporation to test what we have so we can make improvements. It's a very exciting project and we thank both MIT and Umass for being willing to work with us.

After that it was off to the meetings with the Jewish world here in Boston. First up was the Center for Jewish Philanthropy. I met with Jeff Gabel. What a pleasure it was to speak with Jeff. I spoke to him about he vision of IBSF to create a winning Israeli winter sports federation and what tht would mean for Israel and Jews worldwide. We also spoke about the feasibility of the team quailing for the 2014 Winter Olympics. I think a great partnership was formed. In the future CJP is going to help spread the word about IBSF and in return IBSF is going to work with CJP when they would like us to provide speakers for events or guidance to Birthright candidates and alums. Overall the meeting great and IBSF is really looking forward to cultivating that relationship even more in the future.

After that meeting I met with the Hillel @ Boston University, MIT, and Brandeis. All were wonderful and expressed a desire to help IBSF move forward with increasing our outreach to the Jewish world. They all expressed interest in sharing their email list serves as well as getting the word out on their respective campuses. IBSF could not be more grateful to all of them for their support.

Additionally I spoke with Eilane Dreyfuss from the World Zionist Organization who was kind enough to retrieve a forgotten bag with me and take the ride from BU to Brandeis. She is a very passionate person in general and even more in her support of Israel. She was very kind in offering to help IBSF plan more speaking swings through the Jewish community in Boston.

All in all it was a banner day for IBSF. We really feel like we got things tolling and the sky is the limit from here. Again I want to thank everyone for their support. It means so much to IBSF and we will continue to work towards our goal of building an exceptional winter sports organization for Israel.

Thanks again everyone!

-Bradley