Men's Night Out hit it outta the park

More than 160 men from around Central Florida came together on Nov. 2 for an evening of camaraderie with all that "men stuff," you know-steak, drinks, and a great comedian. The event, co-sponsored by the Men's Clubs and Brotherhoods of Congregation Ohev Shalom, Temple Israel, Congregation Beth Am, Congregation of Reform Judaism and Southwest Orlando Jewish Congregation, in conjunction with the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando, was profitable, netting about $12,000 for local Jewish youth educational programs.

The Men's Night Out committee all agreed that this is worth doing every year and even have a (tentative) date-Nov. 8, 2018, mark it on the calendar!

"I had men asking if we could have this event two or three times a year," said planning committee member Bart Neuman. "But they don't know we started last February to get this act together!"

"This was a first-time happening with men in the Jewish community," said Jeff Gaeser, publisher of the Heritage Florida Jewish News. "It should be an annual event. The comedian was funny, the food was good and I saw so many people I hadn't seen in years."

One of the goals the committee had was to reach "unaffiliated" Jewish men in the community, and they were successful-about 40 men not actively involved in a synagogue attended the event.

The committee learned a lot about pulling together an event, and are going to send out follow-up surveys to all the attendees for suggestions on how to make the Men's Night Out even better next year.