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September 2015 Pages 1-10 THE SH FAR A Publication of the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga Volume 29 Number 1 September 2015 Campaign 2016 Gets Underway Doing the Most to Help Jews by Richard Zachary by Lee Brouner and Roy Rosenfeld, Around the World 2016 Campaign Co-chairs Our Federation sent me on the Campaign Chairs and Directors mission to Tbilisi Georgia and Israel in July. The purpose of the mission was to show firsthand the On behalf of your 2016 Campaign good things the Federation is doing for Jews overseas and Team, we welcome you to the Jewish in Israel. Federation’s Annual Campaign! We I have been involved with the Federation for many have the honor of serving as co-chairs years, primarily serving as the Federation Treasurer. Be- of a campaign that promises to raise cause of my long-term involvement, I was familiar with awareness, raise money, and instill the agencies that the Federation funds and had heard the pride and excitement in our community. We will do this through the hard work stories of the vast never-ending needs overseas. However, and dedication of our exceptional volunteers and our Federation’s professionals. signing checks and balancing the budget did not prepare me for what I was This past year our community was again fortunate to have several Chat- about to experience! tanoogans embark on summer mission trips to Israel. Watch for articles from I was able to meet several of the recipients of our community’s gen- both Lee Brouner and Austin Center. Their excitement and focus is infectious. erosity, and was touched in so many different ways throughout the 8½ days. I Additionally, Lauren Lebovitz chaired a national women’s mission to Israel last have seen poverty in the US and know that our local needs are real. But I was February. Barbie Potts and Amy Boulware were on this Heart2Heart Israel mis- not prepared for what I saw during our visit. sion and they too will share their experiences with the community. The level of poverty was astounding. I met Medea Archvadze, a 64 As most of you know, our annual campaign dollars support our Jew- year old Georgian Jewish woman receiving help from our Federation dollars. ish community in Chattanooga as well as Jews around the world – in fact, in 60 Medea was disabled in the 1960’s from polio. The dollars we give each year countries worldwide. Chattanooga’s support of our overseas Jewish family is through our annual campaign provides her with a social worker, who visits her equally important to the work we do right here in our local community. We are weekly. Our dollars also help Medea with an additional $17 per month to buy proud of the commitment of our community in ensuring support of ALL Jews, groceries as her monthly income is only $66 (government pension). Medea no matter where they live. was so extremely grateful for the assistance she receives. She lives on the 3rd floor of a very dilapidated apartment complex. Due to her polio and living conditions, Medea’s plight really touched me, especially when she told us that she is physically not able to leave her home and has not been outside her house in the last 18 years. It is our Federation dollars that add a little more dignity and caring to Medea’s life. We later visited the Hesed Eliyahu Center in Tbilisi, another recipi- ent of Federation funding. Hesed Eliyahu is the equivalent of a community center primarily serving the Jewish elderly and youth. There we met an elderly group of Jews who meet every day for fellowship and dancing. We also had the We have high praise for all of the campaign workers and volunteers. opportunity to see the results of our annual campaign through a youth dance But the highest praise goes to all of you, the donors, large, small and every- troupe and a teen music program, all provided through Hesed Elyahu. Again, thing in-between. WE ARE ONE community whose Annual Campaign can be thanks to all of you for providing the funding for these Jews and allowing them explained simply as “One Jew reaching out to a second Jew to help a third Jew”. to have access to Jewish communal activities. Please take the time to look—really look—at the programs and services your The highlight of the trip for me was the time in Israel. I had never been Federation offers. It is impossible to put a dollar figure on many of them, but if to Israel and I knew I would love it. But I could not have imagined how much. you have enjoyed them, learned from them, or benefited from them in any way, A significant portion of our overseas money is directed toward Israel, we believe they are worth your support. Your gift to the Annual Campaign also but I was struck by the differences between the uses of Federation funding in helps those you don’t know – people in Chattanooga and around the world – who Israel versus other countries like Georgia. In Tbilisi, it was clear that we were receive our assistance each and every day. the only safety net for our fellow Jews living there. Without our aid, so many of In the coming months, you will see further dialogue from both of us. the Jews and Jewish customs could not survive. There were a great number of It is indeed an honor to serve as Campaign Co-chairs. Our efforts are small social services along with Jewish summer camp and Aliyah opportunities. compared to the overall good that is accomplished. We look forward to talk- In Israel, we saw a different use for our funding. We were exposed to ing to you and listening to you this campaign season. Thank you in advance for several programs funded by the Jewish Agency (JAFI) and the Jewish Joint making the 2016 campaign year, and this Federation, the best it can be. Distribution Committee (JDC), the Federation’s partners overseas (JAFI and JDC were also the partners in Tbilisi that we saw). We saw programs aimed at stimulating economic development in the Negev, an area that was devastated P.O. Box 8947 from last year’s Gaza rocket fire. We saw early childhood programs (---see Chattanooga, TN 37414 Brouner on page 3) Change Service Requested THE STRENGTH OF A PEOPLE Save the Date THE POWER OF A COMMUNITY Major Gifts Event Thursday, September 10 (see p. 3 for more information) www.jewishchattanooga.com Jewish Federation will be closed on the following dates in September: 7th: Labor Day 14-15th Rosh Hashanah 23rd: Yom Kippur 28-29th Sukkot – NOTES FROM LEADERSHIP Israel Thoughts from Many Perspectives by Warren Dropkin Federation Board Chair [email protected] I have such a personal connection to Israel. I love when our teens participate in our P2G exchange with Hadera and our post-college graduates go on MASA to Israel. I’m proud of the many Chattanooga missions that have gone to Israel in the Kids from Kfar Aza, kibbutz on the last 10 years, as well as the many community members who have taken national Gaza border, performing for mission leadership missions. Mother and daughter making This summer, Lee Brouner attended the national Campaign Chairs and aliya to Israel from Tbilisi Director’s Mission with Michael Dzik. On page 1, you read about Lee’s experi- ences and thoughts from the mission. On this page are photos from the mission trips. Next month, Austin Center will share his experiences from the national Campaigner’s Mission to Israel that was this past summer. Welcome to a new year! Seeing First-hand the Impact of Giving by Michael Dzik Federation Executive Director New Ethiopian memorial at Mount Hertzl in Jerusalem, dedicated to [email protected] the Jews who died along the jour- Lee Brouner with Israeli soldier in ney from Ethiopia to Israel. Where did the summer go!? Schools have been back kibbutz on Gaza border in session for weeks now, and I’m eagerly waiting for Roni was born and raised in Beersheba, a the cool, fall evenings. blue-collar town that is growing quickly and Much has been happening at the Federation. I hope seeing more white-collar occupations (there is you’ve taken advantage of the many programs – from our weekly Tuesday Café a great medical school there now). No sooner luncheons to the sold-out 1st Amendment Dinner. Most recently we wrapped up had our group stepped of the bus than Roni the two-week visit from our P2G (Partnership2Gether) teens. What an amazing exclaimed,“I know you! I’m friends with Einav impact on our community, and what great connections were made between our Cahaner” (our 2012 Federation shlicha). Then Chattanooga and Israeli teens and families. it hit me : My daughter Rachel and I had had As you know, I was fortunate to join Lee Brouner this summer on the na- lunch with Einav and Roni in Jerusalem 18 tional Federation Campaign Chairs and Director’s mission – this year to Tbilisi, months earlier at a restaurant called Azura, Georgia and Israel. The work we continue to support overseas is truly life chang- after which Roni gave us a short walking tour ing for so many. To name just a few examples: in Tbilisi, we met a senior citizen of the old city and took us to a beautiful over- Michael Dzik reconnects who receives an extra $17 per month to assist with food (and a weekly visit from look of the Kotel. I felt like I’d reconnected with a social worker), and a mother and daughter we are helping to make aliyah to with Roni Reingold, former family! Israel later this year.
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