|
|
May 30, 2003
Successful visionaries
Young families raise $100,000 to fight local poverty.
BARRY DUNNER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
Last May, due to an increase in demand, the Jewish Family Service
Agency (JFSA) ran out of funds for poverty relief and weak financial
markets resulted in a drop in endowment income.
"We were forced to draw down on our scant reserve," said
Joseph Kahn Tietz, JFSA executive director.
Facing steep challenges to meet the growing needs for poverty relief
and social services in the local community, JFSA needed a plan.
"We put new energy and fresh faces behind our annual 2003 Friends
of the Family Campaign. Our goal was to raise $50,000 more than
last year's $100,000. We knew that it would be a great challenge,
but we felt there was no choice," said JFSA president Beverly
Kort.
New this year was their Family Visionaries initiative, which was
supported by the growing number of major donors who contribute a
minimum of $1,000 to JFSA. The energy and compassion of these individuals
and families will help the agency to fight the battle at home against
poverty, hunger, disability, loneliness and grief.
JFSA past presidents Diane Switzer, Jack Lutsky and Stephen Gaerber
co-chaired Family Visionaries, bringing their talents and enthusiasm
with them.
"We sought the assistance of a well-known local family to act
as honorary campaign chair persons and to host a celebratory event,
should we achieve our goals," said Switzer. "We didn't
have to look long. Gordon and Leslie Diamond supported this project
100 per cent from day one. We set a target of $3,600 as a minimum
to get invited to the celebratory dinner," she added.
Confident that they could meet their fund-raising goal, the committee
approached the Dr. Irving and Phyliss Snider Foundation requesting
a $50,000 match. The foundation directors, Joseph Segal, David Levi
and Stanley Sunshine, accepted the challenge.
"Our Family Visionaries committee recognized that the profile
of major donors is changing," said Switzer. "They are
getting younger – men and women under 50 who are increasingly
taking on the responsibility of community support that has been
shouldered up to now by their elders." Members of the under-50
crowd belong to the JFSA's fastest growing group of donors.
"It's time for the younger generation to put into action the
values we've learned from our parents and grandparents," said
Jill Diamond, an active JFSA board member and a Family Visionary.
Diamond, who is the wife of Andrew Abramowich and the mother of
two young children, said she got involved in the JFSA not only to
follow in the footsteps of her late grandfather Jack and father,
Gordon.
"It's also really important to Andrew and I to teach our children
by example the values of tzedakah and chesed –
acts of justice and compassion."
Katz, who is also active on JFSA's board and is the youngest of
the Family Visionaries, was drawn to the agency when he became aware
of the community's poverty crisis.
"I was shocked when I found out the poverty rate among Vancouver
Jews is almost 20 per cent," he said. "Poverty has not
been at the forefront of the Jewish community's understanding, but
the JFSA is helping to bring it there."
During the campaign, the JFSA received 40 new gifts of $1,000 or
more and 18 gifts of $3,600 or more, for a total of more than $104,000,
doubling their original goal. On May 4, they celebrated their achievements
at the home of Gordon and Leslie Diamond.
The next initiative the JFSA is planning to raise money for poverty
relief is its annual Stay-at-Home Dinner campaign, which starts
next week. Contact the JFSA office at 604-257-5151 for details.
Barry Dunner is director of development for the Jewish
Family Services Agency.
^TOP
|
|
