State of the Federation

Jane Schiff, Federation Board Chair

The third year of COVID. Oh, my! But, as of the writing of this report, we are open and have had a few events. The joy of seeing each other in person has been overwhelming. Hugs — no kisses — elbow bumps, a few handshakes and smiles everywhere.

For the past five years as your Board Chair, I have worked with Jeffrey Feld on our overriding goal of building a community. That was a tough job during COVID. When I witnessed the joy of seeing old and new faces, of reconnecting, I could see we have been successful. And, as I go through this report, I hope you will agree that we have made a difference and have, indeed, been successful!

Outstanding Federation staff

Jeffrey Feld, our president and CEO, is the quiet driving force that keeps it all together. He is the most diplomatic and effective CEO I can imagine. He produces large city results with small city resources. His staff adores him, and we all deeply appreciate his tenacity, his vision, his results and his warm, inclusive personality. He is tireless, dedicated and passionate. He is respected throughout our community. We are indeed lucky to have him as our leader. Thank you, Jeffrey, for all that you do for our community.

Program Director Reneé Bialek is the force behind the majority of our Zoom events. She staffs our Jewish Book Festival, the IAC (Israel Advocacy Committee), JCRC (Jewish Community Relations Council), Mix and Mingle, Jewish Professionals, Catholic-Jewish Dialogue, Yom Ha-Shoah, Jewish Day of Learning and more. She has been busier than ever this year, having to juggle online and in-person events at the same time and making a quick decision to change from one format to the other.

She received the gift of a partner to help her with PJ Library this year. Alicia Feldman joined the staff and has been running programs and finding many ways to connect young families. Thank you, Reneé and Alicia.

Marcy Friedland is our capital campaign director and planned giving director. We have been in high gear for our Capital Campaign fundraising, with Marcy overseeing every detail. The paver program as well as the Capital Campaign has seen well over 500 families participate. She is super busy this year with the building construction roaring along. Thank you, Marcy.

Teresa Zimmerman, our finance and operations manager, works with our Finance and Audit Committee to keep our books transparent. In addition, she oversees, fixes and manages the day-today operations necessary in the organization. Teresa works with the Federation Treasurer, the Finance and Audit Committee Chair, WCA and MCA as well as being on call for any questions that arise. Thank you, Teresa.

Nathan Ricklefs was our database manager, and handled our technology. He resigned at the beginning of April. He will be missed as he moves on to other opportunities in his life. Thank you, Nathan.

Janine Hudak does many of the administrative jobs required to assist members and the entire staff. She is the answer woman when you call the offi ce with a question or just need to connect with a staff person. Thank you, Janine, and to the entire staff.

Kirk Wisemayer started in May 2021 as Federation’s new annual community campaign director. He comes to us from a distinguished career at the Federation in Atlantic County, New Jersey. He is a wonderful addition to our staff, bringing innovations and excitement to our Federation. continued on page 2

As executive director of the TOP Jewish Foundation, Ellen Weiss makes sure the organization serves as JFGN’s endowment/planned giving department and works with us and our donors to achieve each person’s philanthropic goals. Thank you, Ellen.

Stellar community volunteers and committees

The staff is joined by Federation’s volunteers. The Board of Directors, all of us volunteers, have been a very special group this past year. So many of our leaders have been leaders in other walks of life and bring a plethora of skills and loads of energy.

The many committee members, committee chairs and volunteers for each event make me marvel at the level of commitment I see daily. The hours and hours of volunteer time expended on behalf of our Jewish community is the reason, along with our exceptional staff, that we are growing, thriving and succeeding.

On the board level, we have standing committees that oversee the business end of the Federation: the Allocations Committee, Governance and Nominating Committee, Finance and Audit Committee, and Development Committee are the backbone of our organization.

In addition, the Building Committee and its subcommittees have been ridiculously busy, planning for and creating the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center. The expertise from our community that has helped in this effort has allowed us to make excellent decisions. I highly recommend you drive by 4720 Pine Ridge Road and see what is rising out of the ground. It is remarkable. More details about this effort at the end of this report.

The group that guides financial decisions, the Finance and Audit Committee, oversees all our budgeting and issues relating to our administration and controls. Elliot Lerner, as treasurer, and Steve Strome, as Finance and Audit Committee chair, lead this committee, overseeing it all. We again had a “clean” audit from the independent auditors. This group has been super busy preparing for our move, addressing questions, such as what new and/or increased insurances do we need? How many more staff do we need? What is the cost of the financing? The details are many, and this group helps us figure it all out.

The Governance and Nominating Committee is chaired by our immediate past Board Chair, Alvin Becker, and is co-chaired by Amanda Dorio. They make sure that we operate according to the rules set down in our bylaws and find wonderful new Board members for us.

WCA and MCA had programs 24/6. There is no way to mention all their offerings. They currently have a combined membership of over 2,500 members. The growth and vibrancy of both organizations produce pride and a specialness to our Jewish Naples community that is the envy of many, many Federations. We are so lucky to have these wonderful affiliates.

They have become experts at operating via Zoom and are now figuring out how and when to open up. Some of their programming may remain online until the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center opens. Some may become hybrid. However, they choose to move forward, know that they are moving forward. Their leadership, Patti Boochever of WCA and Les Nizin of MCA, work with their boards and other volunteers to create the programming. Les will be leaving his position in June, and we welcome Michael Sobol as incoming President of MCA.

There are many, many volunteers who help create and run each program. The programs of the WCA and MCA, along with Federation’s programs, have given us a rich and diverse cultural life during the isolation of COVID. Thanks go to each and every one of you who helped with any of those programs this year.

Other groups that hold meetings to study, play and share their Jewish Naples connections include the Cardoza Society for lawyers, the Jewish Russian Cultural Alliance, Jewish War Veterans, Mix and Mingle for single seniors, Young Jewish Professionals and Young Jewish Families. Each group has programming that meets the needs of its participants. And each group has volunteers who create the programs with Reneé.

The seventh year of the Jewish Book Festival was mostly online. The two inperson programs were better attended online than in person, which was perfectly wonderful. Gayle Dorio, this year’s Chair, was aided by a plethora of volunteers who chose the authors, introduced the authors and helped whenever and wherever needed.

Each author talk was unique. Some shared visual presentations, some talked in conversation with a moderator; all were up-close and personal, thanks to Zoom. There were intimate discussions after a few of the events with patrons and the author. No one had parking or traffic problems. Many of you (me, included) showed up in sweatsuits without shoes. We hope the COVID numbers stay low, and we will all have to get dressed up to listen to the authors in person this coming year.

Our yearly Chanukah Celebration at Mercato was terrific. We estimate that 700 people showed up. And the weather cooperated!

The Israel Advocacy Committee, chaired by Harvey Cohen, presented many events that were well attended, some on Zoom, some Zoom/in-person hybrids.

The Jewish Community Relations Committee, chaired by Jeff Zalasky, also was in full gear.

The Catholic-Jewish Dialogue, chaired by Luba Rotsztain and Marty Gauthier, had many small group discussions on various topics, sponsored a community-wide Kristallnacht Commemoration spearheaded by Ginny Segaloff, then topped off the year with Rabbi Skorka (in person), who wrote a book and is a dear friend to Pope Francis. The Rabbi Skorka event was headed by Richard Price.

The Antisemitism Task Force, a subcommittee of the JCRC chaired by Joel Pittelman, pointed out the known issues that occurred in our community.

Our Stand Up for Justice Committee, chaired by Beth Povlow, identified this year’s SUFJ award winners — Kathryn Doyle and Romi Rameau, with honorable mentions going to Courtney Cassidy, Catherine Crawford and Lindsey Simmons.

Liz Jaffe and the Human Needs Committee selected two nonprofits — Cultivate Abundance and STARability Foundation — as the Human Needs Award winners. I want to thank each of those committees for, once again, finding worthy recipients.

Raising money to service the needs of the community is what we do. The Annual Campaign was chaired exceedingly well this year by Paula Filler, with the help of our new Annual Campaign Director, Kirk Wisemayer. Paula brought together a campaign cabinet that represented each division: Rosalee Bogo and Michael Sobol (Major Gifts); Susan Pittelman and Betty Schwartz (Pomegranates); Rosalee Bogo and Dr. Judith Finer Freedman (Lion of Judah); Alvin Becker and Michael Suffian (Joshua Society); Michael Sobol (King David Society); Michael Rubinstein (Ben Gurion Society); and David Citrin, Harvey Cohen and Cheryl Ginsburg (General Division). Our goal for the Annual Campaign this year was $1,450,000. As of the writing of this article, we have raised in excess of $1,530,000.

Karen Deutsch was our Financial Resource Development Committee chair. This committee encompasses our annual campaign, capital campaign, endowment and a special campaign that was needed this year to help the Jews of Ukraine escape the horrors of war. Many Jews chose to make a permanent move to Israel, and our partner, The Jewish Agency for Israel, facilitated that decision. Some Jews just ran, some Jews stayed, and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee came to the rescue with food, clothing, medicine and other necessities. Students from ORT schools in Ukraine were moved out and cared for by World ORT. Dollars raised for the Ukraine emergency went 100% to these three agencies.

Two new awards

As our Jewish community and our Federation continue to grow, it was decided that two new awards be presented this year to honor those who have aided in that growth — a Campaign Achievement Award and a Power of Community Award.

The Campaign Achievement Award, which recognizes volunteer campaign achievement, leadership and commitment, went to Betty Schwartz and Susan Pittelman. These two women started our Pomegranate division of giving for women who make a minimum annual campaign gift of $1,800. In 2017, they started with 28 women; today, that division has 70 members.

And our new Power of Community Award, recognizing an outside agency, congregation or community organization that has demonstrated a strengthening of partnership and cooperation, went to Collier County Sheriff’s Office and was accepted on their behalf by Sheriff Kevin Rambosk and Chief Stephanie Spell. The Sheriff’s office has a special relationship with our Federation, which began with our Shop with a Sheriff program but has grown to a mutual caring and cooperation level that seems very unique. We applaud the winners but, more importantly, we are excited about the progress that these awards represent.

Allocating funds

Allocations is the term that describes where your dollars go. Preschools; summer camps; seniors, especially Holocaust survivors; Jews with economic difficulties; education to the surrounding communities, especially middle schoolers, about the Holocaust and its underlining message of antisemitism; education and cultural events for our community; and the many needs overseas are our allocations.

We try to highlight each of these areas through articles and programs that create a sense of pride in our Jewish community. We thank Jay Weiss and the Allocations Committee for their diligence in making the recommendations. The process of allocations is currently underway, and the Board will vote on the Allocations Committee recommendation at the June Board meeting.

The Annual Campaign allows us to function in all aspects — allocations, administration and programming, which occupies more and more of our Federation life. Jewish Federations were founded for the express purpose of raising money to take care of the needs of Jewish people locally and overseas. Money raising and allocating those dollars has been the traditional model Federations have operated under for well over 100 years in the U.S.

However, times change. Community needs vary in different locations. This community needs our connections to each other. We all moved here from somewhere else. We have all made wonderful new friends through the Federation, including our programing and our wholly-owned subsidiaries, WCA and MCA. We are not like any other Federation. We are a very special Federation — a place to make our philanthropic goals a reality, a place to make friends, a place to grow culturally and intellectually, and a place to feel part of a community.

With COVID starting to recede, we opened our doors fully March 1. We had partially reopened in December, but then the omicron variant made a brief visit and we closed in-person programming. So, it has been a hybrid programming year. We all hope and pray that we will continue to be fully open as we transition into our brandnew Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center.

Our new home

Construction of the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center is rapidly moving along. The plan calls for it to be under roof in May and finished by the end of this calendar year. Supply chain issues, manpower and other delays are possible. So far, the delays have been manageable, but no one knows what may or may not happen. The building is going up, thanks to the entire community. Well over 500 donors have donated nearly $13 million at this point. There are still wonderful naming opportunities available. We are now selling pavers, a wonderful way to remember a loved one, celebrate a simcha or just let the world know you support this new phase of Jewish community. Please contact Marcy Friedland at mfriedland@jewishnaples.org or call her at 239-263- 4205 to become part of this effort.

There is no way to properly acknowledge Marc Saperstein for his diligence, perseverance, guidance and many thousands of hours he has invested in the planning and execution of the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center. There have been many hiccups as we have moved forward, and each time, his cool and thoughtful approach has gotten us past the moment. As the building rises, there are decisions, large and small, that are made daily, and it is Marc who makes them. His team, and it’s a big team, has worked with him every step of the way.

Merlin Lickhalter, his co-chair (or wing man, as Marc calls him), deserves special acknowledgment. Lickhalter is heading the Art Acquisition Committee. This group of artists and knowledgeable art lovers are deciding what art will be hung in the Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center. It is a laborious task, but their knowledge is important to make sure the inside of the building will be filled with beauty.

Thank you to all of you on the building committee.

And thank you for reading this very long, very fact-filled article. Thank you for being a valued and valuable member of our community. Thank you for all you do for our community. Thank you for caring!