Our core purpose at the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center

By Rosalee Bogo, 2024 Annual Community Campaign Chair

Our season is coming to an end and so many of our friends are heading back to their other home up north. It has been a wonderfully active season in the first full year in our beautiful Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center. Everything we dreamed for the building has happened. Meetings, fundraising events, lectures, book and film festivals and much more have all brought well over 1,500 people to our building each week.

Building community is just one of the purposes of this incredible structure, but more importantly, it is the business location of the Federation, whose purpose is to raise money to support social welfare, social services and educational needs for the Jewish people and to ensure Jewish continuity.

What does this mean?

• We provide food, health care and companionship so no one fights adversity alone.

• We make Jewish learning accessible by providing scholarships when needed, send kids to Jewish camp and attempt to give them a strong sense of identity.

• We give aid worldwide for those in distress, and we are at the forefront when emergencies arise. We have done this in Ukraine, Israel and for emergencies of nature.

Many people come from communities that do not have a Federation educating their members on how JFNA takes on this responsibility for all Jews around the world. Maybe your Federation was located in a JCC and less emphasis was on the humanitarian work Federation does. I hope you will acknowledge what our Federation has provided for this community. A secure, beautiful place to enjoy yourselves with Jews from all over North America. Your generosity in helping with our campaign will help us succeed in practicing tikum olam (repairing the world), and we can continue to support this beautiful building and provide security for you when you return next season.

Our 2024 Annual Community Campaign will end on June 30. We recently set up a banner showing the thermometer of the campaign currently and another banner showing where the money we raise is allocated. It will be moved to different locations around the building. We hope by providing this list of where the money goes, it will give more guests and members who are in the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center a reason to support what Federation is making possible for this community, for Israel and around the world.

Help us reach our goal of $1,750,000. Allocations begin soon, and the needs that must be met are great. Thank you to all who have made their pledge for this campaign.

Now more than ever, no gift touches more lives.