News from Other Societies - JGSTB

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay will meet on Sunday May 18, 2008 at 2:00 P.M. at Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services, 14041 Icot Blvd., Clearwater, Florida. “The Anatomy of a Family Reunion” will be presented by Bill Israel, a founding member and the immediate past president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay. Bill had a key role in the planning and organizing of all fifteen of his Israel Family Reunions held over the past 28 years. He served as general chairman of two reunions and was program chairman and consultant for most of the others. He co-chaired and assisted his wife in establishing family reunions for her family as well. All totaled, Bill has participated in a total of 20 family reunions. He has documented his experiences with family reunions into a planning guide for use by his family in planning future reunions, which are held every two years with a rotation of chairmen and locations. These reunions typically average more than 100 in attendance and are weekend affairs with a program of planned activities running from Friday through Sunday designed to reconnect family members, tell the family story, and show everyone a good time.

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Are you stuck, or are you having trouble getting started in researching your family's history? Help is on the way! The Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay will meet at 2:00 PM on Sunday, June 8th at Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services, 14041 Icot Blvd., Clearwater, Fla. for a hands-on workshop for individual research using both Internet and our own extensive library resources. Several experienced JGS mentors will be available to provide guided assistance at this working session.

The workshop will begin with an overview of genealogical resources available in print and online. This will be followed by the actual use of these resources for your own individual research under the guiding hands of our experienced mentors. Several computers with Internet connection will be available. The JGSTB library holdings are listed at <http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fljgstb/library.htm>. Attendees should bring with them all prior research about the families they are researching. This workshop is intended to help you to build upon what you know.

Anyone interested in learning how to do Jewish genealogical research is invited to attend either of these upcoming meetings. Beginners as well as experienced researchers are welcome. For further information on the Jewish Genealogical Society of Tampa Bay or directions to the meeting call Sally Israel at 727-343-1652.