Returning from Budapest and Israel - A note from from our CEO, Bruce Landgarten

The Campaign Chairs and Directors Mission was JFNA's premiere Development mission, serving as the kick-off for the Annual Campaign each year. This year, Roberta Nyman, President, Vern Kozlen, President Elect, and Edith Familian, WP Campaign Chair, traveled to Budapest to meet with veteran community leaders as well as the young leaders of tomorrow. We had a unique experience of sharing Shabbat with the Hungarian community, during which time we discussed historic and present day Budapest. Our inspiring mission provided us with the opportunity to understand the community's needs and see the services provided by our partner agencies JAFI and JDC. In Israel, we continued our learning through participation in special site visits.

This mission provided us with tools and resources to advance our fundraising efforts. Campaign chairs and directors had the opportunity to bond with each other and to learn with and from The Jewish Federations of North America's national leadership, as well as leaders from other Federations. I have returned home feeling inspired, informed, motivated and above all prepared to meet the challenges of the 2011 Campaign.

Our time in Budapest was short and focused on accomplishing our mission goals, but it was a productive and memorable experience I will never forget.

At an absorption center in Ramle, a low-income suburb of Tel Aviv, participants on The Jewish Federations of North America's Campaign Chairs and Directors Mission entered a preschool classroom, where 20 Ethiopian-Israeli four year olds and two teachers sat in a circle.

Some of the children have made aliyah within the last two months. All are spending their summer preparing for kindergarten by learning basic skills such as how to share; how to treat your friends; and how to act in a classroom.

Mission participants joined the children, holding their hands. Led by their dynamic teacher, Etty, the children sang joyfully of learning to cross the street when the light is green, and about what it means to be a good friend.

All over Israel on Monday and Tuesday, from Beer Sheva to Afula, mission participants visited such classrooms, absorption centers, kibbutzim and homes, meeting the Israelis who benefit from scores of Federation-funded programs of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the Jewish Agency for Israel(JAFI), the Ethiopian National Project (ENP), World ORT and others.

The mission which officially launches the 2011 Jewish Federation Annual Campaign, raised $2.5 million - an impressive 25 percent increase on a gift-for-gift basis from the previous year. Throughout the mission, participants saw first-hand the life-enhancing results of our Jewish Federation-funded partner agencies.

Along with visiting dozens of Jewish Federation partner agency programs, the nearly 130-member mission also heard many compelling speakers, including JAFI Chair Natan Sharansky, Israeli government press spokesman Mark Regev and journalist Saul Singer. The group also received JDC and JAFI briefings on global Jewish needs and engaged in fundraising training.

On Monday, participants visited the homes of Ethiopian-Israeli families whose children receive services from the ENP's Scholastic Assistance and Youth Outreach. Mullu, who hosted a small group at her Ramle apartment with her daughters Ilana, 14 and Chana, 16, said of her children: "I can't give them very much. But I want them to have a better life than mine."

Mullu, a single mother of four, is unemployed and receives welfare. But Ilana, who wants to be a veterinarian and Chana, who is an aspiring artist, both receive ENP's academic enrichment and have high hopes for the future.

The mission also spent time at an Israel Defense Forces paratrooper base, celebrating Jewish Federation-funded programs that help young, lone immigrant soldiers explore their Jewish identity and integrate into Israeli society. U.S.-born Ella Spivack first came to Israel on a Birthright Israel trip and returned repeatedly, finally making aliyah. She and other soldiers described how Federation-funded programs helped them build a new life in the Jewish State.

On Tuesday the mission visited the home of President Shimon Peres, who discussed prospects for peace, the relationship between Israel and the North American Jewish community, recent attempts to delegitimize Israel, and the ongoing conversion bill debate.

The mission concluded Wednesday with a fundraising caucus. Along with the $2.5 million pledged to the Annual Campaign, participants pledged another $130,000 in supplemental gifts. Three women also became Lions of Judah (minimum annual gift $5,000); five Lions joined the Ruby level ($10,000); three joined the Sapphire level ($15,000); two the Emerald level ($25,000); one the Amethyst level ($36,000); one Zahav (gold, $50,000); and one became a new Prime Minister's Council Lion ($100,000).

 

Pictures of past events

Women's Philanthropy/Anti-defamation League/Israel Consulate Meeting - June 17, 2010