Calgary Jewish Community Council and Its Successor, Calgary Jewish Federation, During an Incredibly Busy and Productive Year
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Rededicating Renewing Rejewvenating Annual Report 2010 – 2011 | 5771 President and Interim Executive Director’s Message It is a real pleasure to share in these pages the accomplishments of Calgary Jewish Community Council and its successor, Calgary Jewish Federation, during an incredibly busy and productive year. Our efforts this past year have been focused on renewing and “rejewvenating” our Jewish community through education, inclusion and leadership development. We reached in to the unaffiliated and reached out to the greater Calgary community. And we are proud to say that we brought the joys of “doing Jewish” to an increasing number of men, women and children. We have a new name and new logo. Calgary Jewish Federation is now our community’s central funding, planning and coordinating body, completing a process that began with our March 2007 Strategic Plan for Ensuring the Future of the Jewish Community. This year, Federation and CJCC share one annual report. Henceforth, we will operate independently of one another. CJCC will continue to proudly serve the community, but will function independently as a not-for-profit organization tasked with coordinating local Israel advocacy efforts and promoting projects and programs with our sister region of Etzba HaGalil (the Galilee Panhandle) in Northern Israel. Another major undertaking during the past year was our search for a new Executive Director, and we are very pleased to welcome Drew Staffenberg back to Calgary in that capacity. Having served the community so capably from 1983 through 1993, Drew returns to us with outstanding experience in campus development and we are thrilled that he will help us to achieve our dream of a Jewish community campus. As always, our thanks go out to lay leaders, volunteers and staff for their outstanding commitment to a flourishing Jewish community in Calgary, across Canada and around the world. Our final words of gratitude go out to all those who have so generously supported the 2010 United Jewish Appeal Campaign. Thanks to you we continue to revitalize our community and engage in the greatest Jewish value of all: tikkun olam, repairing the world. Adam Singer Judy Shapiro, CJF President CJF Interim Executive Director 2 Rebranding Our community now has a new logo, a new name, and a new way of doing business. In January 2011, we completed the transition from Calgary Jewish Community Council to Calgary Jewish Federation, the culmination of a process rooted in our strategic plan and accelerated by Canada Revenue Agency requirements. CJF is now the Calgary Jewish community’s central funding, planning and coordinating body. We fund vital community programs and services through our annual United Jewish Appeal Campaign and allocate resources according to a strategic plan based on community needs and priorities. Throughout our seamless transition, we continued to provide excellent programs with an emphasis on education, inclusion, leadership development, inreach to the unaffiliated and outreach to the greater Calgary community. Our new name – Calgary Jewish Federation – means instant, worldwide recognition of the Federation brand that brings us in step with 157 federations and 400 network communities affiliated with Jewish Federations of North America. Did You Know? The Federation movement, collectively among the top 10 charities on the continent, protects and enhances the well-being of Jews worldwide through the values of tikkun olam (repairing the world), tzedakah (charity and social justice) and Torah (Jewish learning). Refocusing A trusted community institution for more than half a century, Calgary Jewish Community Council continues to serve the Calgary Jewish community. Mandated to realign itself following the transition to the Federation model and in keeping with Canada Revenue Agency direction, CJCC has assumed responsibility for Israel advocacy; promotion of Partnership 2000 (P2K) initiatives as a Gesher Chai (living bridge) between Calgarians and their Israeli peers in Etzbah HaGalil (the Galilee Panhandle); and the promotion of travel and study opportunities in Israel. Did You Know? CJCC and CJF began operating as separate entities with separate boards of directors in January 2011. 3 Resourcing Long-time and brand-new supporters chose to Be a Part It through their generous support of the 2010 United Jewish Appeal Campaign. The fundraising arm of Calgary Jewish Federation, UJA raises funds that ensure a great quality of Jewish life here in Calgary, across Canada and around the world. Your gift to the 2010 Campaign meant kids could receive Jewish day school education and enjoy a Jewish summer camp experience as well as other youth activities. It enabled Calgary Jewish Federation and its valued partner agencies to address a wide variety of basic local needs and to enrich Jewish life by providing for social, cultural and educational services and programming that touched the lives of a very broad cross section of Jewish Calgarians. By being a part of UJA, you supported community infrastructure and advocacy. You reached out to the most vulnerable in Calgary and around the world. Keep dialing! You can rest in January. - Micah Libin, 2010 UJA Chair Whoever practices charity and justice fills the whole world with loving kindness. - The Talmud Did You Know? In one of his first official appearances, newly elected Mayor I Naheed Nenshi attended the UJA Major Gifts Dinner in November. UJA 4 Resourcing 2010 - 2011 Allocations of UJA Dollars Your gift to the 2010 UJA Campaign supported programs in Calgary, across Vital Social Services Community Bursaries - Canada, in Israel and around the world $132,500 Outreach Schools, Camps, $ Youth Activities as recommended by the Program 269,000 $ Allocation Committee. Culture 350,000 $32,000 Calgary Jewish Basic Needs & Community Council 2010 UJA By Numbers Emergency Support $298,000 Total Raised - $2,768,481 $100,000 Youth & Young Adult Donors – 1,591 $158,500 National and Volunteers – 175 Holocaust Education International YLD donors – 276 $60,000 Commitment $500,000 New donors – 171 Community Relations $ 50,000 JCC Living Room Seniors $ $129,000 312,000 Enabling Jewish Life $12,500 JCC Capital Upgrade $40,000 UJA Partner Agencies Nobody is ever impoverished through the giving of charity. - Maimonides Did You Know? UJA Women’s Division top leaders established the Lion of Judah Student Grant and dedicated it to the memory of Sophie Kettner in 2010. The grant supports a deserving Calgary student enrolled or accepted at a post-secondary institution. The scholarship comes with the added gift of mentorship. 5 Regenerating Calgary Young Leadership Division (YLD) once again provided a fun forum connecting Jewish adults between the ages of 25 and 45 with each other and the Jewish community at large. Highlights included raising a glass in Jewbilation, YLD Shabbat Dinner Italiano and the second annual L’Dor Va Dor event that brought the moving personal testimony of 12 local Holocaust Survivors to Calgary J e wish F e deration more than 130 participants. To suggest that these remarkable individuals are tomorrow’s leaders would be an understatement, because they are already leaders within Calgary Jewish Federation, United Jewish Appeal and some of our partner and affiliated agencies. I am proud to be part of a community that is so passionate about helping those in need. - Jordan Balaban, YLD Chair Did You Know? YLD Dine ‘n’ Dial, hosted at four homes, raised over $20,000 for United Jewish Appeal in just one evening! 6 Regenerating Hillel Organized by and for university students at the University of Calgary and, now, Mount Royal University, Hillel provided formal and informal events and programs, helping students to “do Jewish” on campus while reaching out to their peers beyond the Jewish community through interfaith and intercultural dialogue. Major highlights included Israel Day at U of C, where hundreds of students enjoyed Size Does Not Matter promotional materials, Israeli films and music, falafel and much more. Festivus for the Rest of Us brought together 170 students, some of whom study in Calgary and others who study elsewhere but enjoyed connecting with their friends and community over the winter break. Hillel Calgary proudly hosted a Western Regional Conference welcoming 75 students from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba who shared in Shabbat services, and discussions and workshops on Judaism and Israel advocacy. Other Hillel Highlights included Bagel Lunches, Shabbat dinners, a Purim Costume Ball and the annual Matzah Ball year end celebration. Religious Life Calgary Jewish Federation ensures the vibrancy of Jewish life in Calgary by maintaining two crucial elements of Jewish practice: kashrut services and the community mikvah. Kashrut services are provided through Calgary Kosher, which operates under the direction of Rabbi Yisroel Miller of Congregation House of Jacob-Mikveh Israel. Mashgiach Philip Wolf supervises several commercial companies, kosher catering facilities and Karen’s Café. While physically located in the House of Jacob-Mikveh Israel building, the mikvah is a community facility which serves the needs of all the members of the community regardless of synagogue affiliation. The recent closure of kosher businesses and expensive repairs of the mikvah pose challenges to the community going forward. 7 Repairing the World Integrated Bursary Program Calgary Jewish Federation has completed a The way we treat our most vulnerable is a commentary on three year pilot Integrated Bursary Program what kind of community we are. We want people who live on created to make the process of applying for or even beyond the fringes to be fully integrated… to be part of bursaries more dignified, anonymous and something special. Their contribution to Jewish community life fair. Our goal is to maximize participation in will make us more loving, more successful and richer. Jewish life for individuals and families who - Beth Price, IBP Chair otherwise could not afford it. Core community organizations participating in the Integrated Bursary Program are Akiva Academy, Calgary Jewish Academy, Camp BB-Riback, BBYO and the Calgary JCC.