DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

This summer, central Iowa has continued to see a great deal of severe weather. There have been tornados and derechos that have torn through the Des Moines metro, but thankfully the Temple and Woodland Cemetery haven’t sustained any damage. A few branches down in our yard isn’t out of the norm for any storm.

One of the things that Charles and I take great pride in is making sure that we do a good job maintaining our historic and beautiful building. Maintaining the sanctuary will always be our main priority, and you may have seen we just completed one of our major maintenance projects for the year. We had work done on the dome and replaced the surrounding roofs to make sure that space is as watertight as possible.

It’s understandable if you missed that repair, but one maintenance project you can’t miss is the new cement that was poured for the north entrance of our parking lot. Charles, and Jacob Heilman before him, did their best to maintain and repair the asphalt in that area, but it has finally gotten to the point that it could no longer be repaired. The cement should last longer than the asphalt, and we added a lip to that entrance which should help with water drainage and erosion around our dumpster. 

Our plan is to replace one other roof on the building (the one over the elevator) this year, but that will likely be done after the high holidays.

We look forward to seeing many of you for the high holidays, and it will be great to celebrate them in our sanctuary.

As always thank you for your support of the Temple, we could not operate without you!

David Muenchrath

Executive Director