Power of Community Report: Summer 2011

Federation Campus Our Federation recently received a $467,000 competitive Florida Clean Energy Grant to replace our inefficient 21-year-old chiller and provide new, energyefficient lighting and solar panels.

The Continuous Care Retirement Center (CCRC) planned for the Federation campus just closed on nearly $10 million in predevelopment costs revenues bonds. The CCRC has launched a marketing campaign with a staff of four. The CCRC has filed the extensive application for a PCOA (Preliminary Certificate of Authority) to operate the CCRC, slated to provide independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing residences as Sinai Residences of Boca Raton.

Leadership For eight days this summer, ten of our Federation’s NextGen leaders participated in a life-changing mission to Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia. Visiting the full range of services and programs funded by our community through overseas partners JAFI and JDC, they met recipients whose lives are transformed through our aid - the elderly, families and children; those with special needs; and others reconnecting with or newly discovering their Judaism. At schools, summer camps, activity centers, synagogues, homes and more, they also witnessed the vibrant rebirth of Jewish Life in the Former Soviet Union.

Five members of our Jewish Community Foundation’s “Create a Jewish Legacy” program’s lay and professional leadership attended a Legacy Forum in Atlanta provided by the JFNA. They also kept busy this summer incorporating what they learned, drafting new branding, materials and organizational structure for review, in preparation for a new campaign “launch.”

Our Federation’s two top campaign professionals joined a JFNA campaign leaders’ mission to Moscow and Israel this summer to meet with recipients and visit sites that benefit from Federation dollars. Our marketing head was part of a JFNA Marketing Director’s mission to Israel and Kiev, Ukraine, exploring more than 25 funded projects.

A Powerful New Year Ahead Live PowerfullyWith so many people relying on us for vital services and programs, our Federation and Foundation have kept up full momentum this summer, laying the groundwork for our busy season ahead. We’ve been planning unparalleled programs and events, developing materials, and engaging corporate sponsors for Major Gifts, the Dorothy Seaman Department of Women’s Philanthropy, Metro Division and far more, We’re excited to be putting the finishing touches on our campaign, and look forward to rolling it all out for you in the weeks ahead.

Together, we’ll live powerfully and make 5771 a year of strength and sweetness for our Jewish family in our neighborhoods and around the globe.

Amid summer images of fun and relaxation, your dollars have stayed hard at work providing food for hungry neighbors, responding to Israel’s emergency needs, introducing children in the FSU to their Jewish identity and much more. Here are a few highlights to show just how hard Federation donations and family have worked all summer long – and just how far our community dollars reached to meet vital needs and brighten the summer for so many.

Coming to the Aid of Neighbors Throughout the summer, Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service’s (JFS) Forster Family Kosher Food Pantry has been serving well over 500 local residents in need while gearing up for fall food drives all over the community. JFS receives significant funding and support from our Federation.

Over the past three months, JFS added 38 new Holocaust Survivors to its list of clients, and now provides 213 local survivors with case management, transportation, homecare and referrals.

In June, more than 300 local Holocaust survivors attended the JFS Café Europa Luncheon. The event was underwritten by the Polo Club Federation donors and the Claims Conference.

The JFS Feldman Family Diamond Club, an important social outlet for seniors 75+ at the Shirley and Barton Weisman Delray Community Center, met through the summer and increased its membership to 646 people today.

26 local children among 67 campers with special needs enjoyed the summer experience of a lifetime at the Adolph & Rose Levis JCC’s Camp Kavod, through scholarships supported in part by Federation dollars. Camp Kavod is the largest special needs summer camp in Palm Beach County.

Promoting Jewish Life and Learning 170 neighborhood kids also got to enjoy summer fun and activities at the JCC, with Federation helping to provide more than 60% of camp scholarships for families in need.

The March of the Living (MOL)- Southern Region went right from the 2011 March in May to recruiting11th and 12th grade students for the April 2012 March. This extraordinary Holocaust education program draws thousands of teens from around the world each year. Together, they go from witnessing the depths of the Holocaust in concentration camp sites in Poland to the glory of the modern State of Israel.

200 teachers from six local preschools representing all streams of Judaism gathered at the Federation campus on August 22 to learn from experts about autism and behavior management. “Reaching Potentials,” this year’s Early Childhood Conference, further boosted our Jewish community’s capacity for inclusion. This event is one of several annual training opportunities presented for local early childhood, congregational and day schools by our Federation with the local school councils.

Thanks to the Federation-supported Ethiopian National Project’s Youth Outreach Center, 80 Ethiopian middle school and high school students in our Sister City Kiryat Bialik continued to have a safe and enriching place to congregate this summer.

We welcomed an old friend to a new position as Rabbi David Gutterman joined our professional staff as our community’s new Director of the Department of Jewish Education. An ordained rabbi well-networked with our Jewish community, David’s professional experiences as a synagogue rabbi, a Jewish Resources Director, a Hillel Executive Director, an Executive Vice President of the Board of Rabbis, and a Jewish Community Day School principal will be instrumental in expanding educational opportunities in South Palm Beach County.

Nearly 15,000 children and adults participated in JDC’s summer camps. Our core funding helped support over 130 camps in 20 countries across Central and Eastern Europe and the FSU.

Helping Jews in Israel & Overseas Our Federation’s eight-year-old Partnership 2000 (P2K) bridge of caring and sharing with Kiryat Bialik, our Sister City in Israel, continued to strengthen this summer, as several groups from our community visited there: • When 62 teens and 10 adults of the JCC’s Boca Raton Maccabi team traveled to Israel, their two weeks of summer sports, activities and learning included a visit to Kiryat Bialik. Federation enabled three young Kiryat Bialik swimmers to join our team for the full two weeks, and provided a party for local and Kiryat Bialik teens to get to know each other. Our P2K staff in Israel arranged warm home hospitality for all in the Kiryat Bialik area.

• 18 members of our Jewish Community Foundation’s Professional Advisory Committee shared a remarkable experience on their Israel Mission. Their first hand exploration of how much is accomplished through programs funded by Federation included sites in Kiryat Bialik from a bomb shelter to a playground, and from a senior employment center to a program for Ethiopian children.

5,900 children in the FSU experienced a life-changing week of JAFI summer camp that they will never forget. 170 of those children were able to participate due to our Federation’s elective funding! They were introduced to their Jewish identity for the first time, and connected to a sense of belonging with the Jewish people.

Through summer programs, Federation dollars also addressed local and global assimilation and deteriorating connection with Israel among young Jewish adults.

Birthright brought young adults on structured, transformational summer trips to Israel. MASA participants pursued longer Israel experiences; our funds support 10 students from the FSU, and 30 students from the US and South Palm Beach area MASA programs.

Throughout the summer, our elective funding continued to feed poor children and elderly in the Former Soviet Union.

Advocacy efforts This summer, as always, our Federation stood with Israel. We brought together 4,000 residents for Israel Under the Stars at Sunset Cove Amphitheater to celebrate HaAtzmaut. Following the August attacks near Eilat, our Chair Ellen R. Sarnoff rallied the community to “rise together in outrage and call on the international community to join in condemnation of the brutal attacks in Israel by terrorists who seek to destabilize the region.”

Our JCRC also enthusiastically joined a widespread campaign to gather signatures for the Petition Against a Unilaterally Declared Palestine.

In June, Our Federation’s JCRC recognized public leaders for outstanding service at a special reception on the Federation campus. Ofer Bavly, outgoing Israeli Consul General to Florida and Puerto Rico, outgoing Deputy Consul General Paul Hirschson, State Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff, State Representative Mack Bernard and Florida Federations’ lobbyist Bernie Friedman, Esq. received awards.

• Our community’s March of the Living delegation also enjoyed time in Kiryat Bialik, where meaningful teen friendships were forged and strengthened – and now continue over the internet.

Intensive advocacy paid off when we joined our entire Jewish community to hail Florida’s unanimous passage of the “Scrutinized Companies” bill, which became law on July 1. The new law significantly strengthens the state’s divestment from companies that invest with Iran and Sudan.

When 8 Israelis were killed in Eilat on August 18, in a chain of violent attacks in Israel, our Federation’s dollars were on the ground immediately. Responding through our overseas partners including the Jewish Federations of North America, the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), our community’s resources continue to aid those affected.

With our beneficiary agencies JARC and JFS, we also mounted lobbying and advocacy efforts to sustain Medicaid funding for programs serving the elderly, Holocaust survivors, and those with special needs and in need of counseling services in our area.