"Well, you fine USYer you; I actually just created an acrostic for it! Let me show it to you! Membership is:

MANY
EXCITED
MAGNIFICENT
BRILLIANT
EFFORTS AND IDEAS
REGARDING
SEEKING AND SEARCHING FOR NEW
HIP
INCREDIBLE
PEOPLE"

According to Urbandictionary.com, the definition of USY is "the most awesome Jewish Youth Group EVER!" Wikipedia states that USY is "a fun, educational environment where Jewish teenagers can connect in hopes of meeting other Jewish teens." No matter what definition you choose, USY is for you! USY is made for USYers, by USYers. My favorite part of USY is the people. Without each and every USYer, USY would not exist. There are so many teens across the United States and Canada whose lives have been touched by the magic of USY. Yet, there are still many others who we need to reach. That is why membership retention and recruitment are so crucial to the survival of United Synagogue Youth.

This section of the USY website is designed to help you with all of your membership retention and recruitment needs. If you look to the right, you will see a ton of great resources that can help you with happy and fun recruiting. Take the New USY Guide to Recruitment for example. This booklet was made to assist chapters with membership drives (the coolest program ever!) and to help make sure that chapters are thinking about membership 24/6. Check it out to learn more about membership drives and phone calls. It even has a sample script you can use for phone conversations!

Speaking of resources, this year my Membership Committee and I would like to serve as a resource to all of you. If you ever have any questions about membership, recruitment, you need ideas for icebreakers, senior programming, incentives, or just a fun new idea to bring in new members please feel free to contact me anytime! Also, if you had a great idea about membership, let us know! We'd love to hear about it and I'm sure many other chapters could benefit from your great idea as well. Basically, I'm just here to have a great year with you and work with you to increase the number of people who get to experience USY.

I can't wait to see all that we accomplish this year.

B'ahava,

Josh Warshawsky
2008 International USY Membership/Kadima Vice President
memkad@usy.org