From: Desk of Jerry Silverman Subject: Hurricane Harvey Update; 9-7-17 Date: Thursday, September 7, 2017 5:38:01 PM

Dear Colleagues,

The wreckage in Houston continues to reveal itself, and the realization that our community has been brutally shattered has become our new normal. Cleanup has begun in earnest in areas where it’s possible, but West Houston remains under water. More than 70% of the Jewish community lives in parts of the city that were badly flooded, and that includes nearly 12,000 Jewish elderly. The start of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is now less than two weeks away and flooded synagogues are scrambling to find places to hold services.

Raised and Allocated donations continue to come in. To date, Jewish Federations have raised nearly $7.8M for Hurricane Harvey relief. $1.6M was allocated to address the following priorities: • Immediate cash grants for flood victims essential needs • Extended day-camp programming to make up for delayed school opening • Expanding capacity of Jewish Family Services to allow them to provide one-stop, comprehensive assistance • Grants to individual Rabbis’ discretionary funds to meet specific congregational needs • Funds to the Hebrew Free Loan Association that will match resources from Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco to create a new Hurricane Harvey loan pool

JFNA Continues to Organize Teams of Professionals to Aid Houston JFNA is organizing its third team of national Federation professionals to assist the Houston Jewish Federation next week. We are also working with the Network of Jewish Services Agencies to enable them to provide national professional assistance to Houston’s Jewish Family Services agency for mental health counseling.

Houston Federation Flood Committee to Meet Again Next Week At its next meeting, the Houston Federation Flood Committee will allocate additional funds as the requirements of the community become more apparent. They will also address further financial assistance needs that are designed to strengthen local agency capacity. The committee will also help flooded synagogues find temporary locations for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Updated Volunteer Information Houston still needs volunteers! Those interested should call 800-820-5188 or email [email protected]

News Directly From Houston Houston Jewish Herald-Voice

News about Houston from Other Jewish Communities Haaretz—People of the book: Houston’s Jewish community works to salvage synagogue libraries Arutz Sheva—Will Harvey’s victims celebrate the upcoming Jewish holidays? —Houston Federation launches rebuilding campaign New York Jewish Week—Reaching out to Houston Jewish Journal—Boca, Delray groups join for hurricane relief Florida Jewish Journal—Hurricane victims to benefit from temple’s ‘Bring a Buck’ campaign Jewish Journal—Meet Etan G, the Jewish rapper who drove 1,500 miles to help Hurricane Harvey victims Jewish Times—How to Help Houston New Jersey Jewish News—NJ provide aid to Hurricane Harvey victims Jewish Times—Jewish Atlanta answers Harvey’s challenge

Sincerely,

Jerry Silverman

Jerry Silverman President & CEO The Jewish Federations of North America 25 Broadway, Suite 1700 New York, NY 10004-1010 Phone: 212-284-6700 Fax: 212-271-7935 [email protected]

Join us at the GA in LA Nov. 12-14

Note: The information contained in this message may be privileged and confidential and protected from disclosure. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer. Thank you. The Jewish Federations of North America.