2017 Annual Report 5000 Corporate Woods Dr. Suite 200, Virginia Beach, VA 23462 757.965.6100 | [email protected] | Facebook.com/UJFTidewater www.JewishVA.org United Jewish Federation of Tidewater Mission & Vision Statement Our Mission The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater strengthens and perpetuates Jewish lives. Through the generosity of your donations, we develop human and financial resources to meet the evolving and vital challenges of our Tidewater and worldwide community, partnering with local, national and global organizations. We allocate resources to assist Jewish agencies providing healthcare, social services and education, and aid organizations which improve human relations and provide Jewish cultural programs. We care for those in need, rescue Jews in danger, enhance Jewish security and champion the State of Israel. By accepting responsibility for one another, we improve the world with acts of righteous giving and social justice. Our Vision The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater nurtures a vibrant, engaged, inclusive and caring Jewish community whose collective action is guided by our values. Our Values • Kol Yisrael: We are one People, responsible for one another. • Tzedakah: We have an obligation to share our resources with our fellow human beings. • Tikkun Olam: We are to actively participate in repairing the world. • Gemilut Chasadim: We have a responsibility to perform acts of loving kindness. • Torah: We are committed to lifelong Jewish learning. 2 Letter to the Community 2017 Annual Campaign Gifts received July 1, 2016 – June 30, 2017 Dear Donors, As our Tidewater Jewish community continues to evolve, what remains constant is a proud community filled with caring, committed, and inspirational individuals. As a donor to the 2017 United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Annual Campaign, your generosity represents our values and strength, and demonstrates our power to make an impact on the world. Over the past 12 months, you have made possible innumerable acts of chesed – loving kindness for those in need, both near and far. Our community also continues to recommit itself to the love, pride, and solidarity we share with Israel. Although it would be impossible to list every mitzvah accomplished through your support of the 2017 Annual Campaign, because of you: • 7,720 Meals-on-Wheels were delivered to elderly and homebound community members. • 17,000 Jews on college campuses, including University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and George Mason University, strengthened their connection to Israel through exchange and living-bridge programming. • Over 4,600 students in Israel’s peripheral communities were given access to cutting-edge science and math opportunities, affording them the opportunity to reach their full potential. • 1,500 youths connected to their Jewish identity through Jewish summer camp throughout Eastern Europe and locally at Camp JCC. The Tidewater Federation, through our partnerships with the Jewish Federation of North America, our overseas partners, and partner agencies, is protecting, strengthening, and empowering Jewish futures here at home and around the world. Thank you for your continued support, because with it we are able to make the world a better place. Please support the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s 2018 Annual Campaign. Laura Gross John Strelitz Harry Graber Campaign Chair Federation President Federation Executive Vice President 3 What You Make Possible Thanks to your generosity, in 2017 the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater was able to make an impact in the lives of Jews around the world in the critical areas of education, identity, rescue, and welfare. Here at home, throughout Virginia, in Israel and other overseas communities, the lives of Jews were made better, safer and more abundant because of your unwavering support. EDUCATION • 50 students received scholarships to attend the Hebrew Academy of Tidewater. • 1,734 middle and high school students explored their ideas of moral courage, prejudice, and the danger of indifference through the Elie Weisel Writing and Visual Arts Competitions. • 4,600 young students in Israel’s poorest communities were provided access to cutting edge, hands-on educational opportunities. IDENTITY • 39 scholarships were awarded for local children to attend Camp JCC. • 84 Jewish college students at Virginia Tech were provided a trip to Israel. • 1,500 young Jews from communities around Easter Europe were provided access to Jewish summer camp. 4 RESCUE • 30,594 Olim received Aliyah services including housing, employment and absorption support into Israeli life and culture. • 3,489 Jews in crisis have been rescued from anti-Jewish governments like in Yemen, Iran, Tunisia, Venezuela, Turkey, and Morocco. • 105 Jewish institutions in 28 communities around the world received funding to fortify their security. WELFARE • 510 families and 912 children received support services from Jaffe JFS in Budapest, Hungary. • 1,000 free trips were provided to senior adults for medical appointments and social activities at the Simon Family JCC. • 7,720 meals were delivered to the elderly and homebound through Jewish Family Service’s Meals on Wheels program. 5 EDUCATION IDENTITY RESCUE WELFARE Your support made possible continued access to Jewish education through scholarships that ensure all our local families are able to provide their children with a Jewish education; and in Israel, you provided educational opportunities that ensure all children are given the chance to learn, challenge themselves, and secure a bright future. Through your gifts, Tidewater’s support of World ORT Kadima Mada’s YOUniversity Centers of Excellence program was expanding to Kiryat Yam providing students from ages 9 to 16 years access to experiential, hands-on activities in science and technology studies. The YOUniversity program offers a variety of year-long courses made up of weekly sessions that take place in ten of the city’s elementary and high schools. To date, approximately 200 students are enrolled in the program with growing participation as World ORT Kadima Mada’s policy is to never turn away any student, regardless of their inability to pay. Kiryat Yam’s YOUniversity Centers of Excellence program currently offers courses in: • Combative Robots & Robotics • Young Ambassadors & Doctors • Space & Astronomy • Photography • Applications Development • Physics & Rocketry • Website Building & Marketing Max, 5th grade student at Or Avner: I think YOUschool is very important because the teacher tutors us personally and we mostly practice the material that I find hard. I had difficulty with verbal problems so the teacher brought work pages and puzzles and explained how to approach and solve them. In the last test, I felt that I managed to deal with the verbal questions and overcome my problem with them. “6 ” EDUCATION IDENTITY RESCUE WELFARE With your gift, the next generation was inspired and excited to engage in Jewish life throughout Israel because of pluralism initiatives; and young Jews throughout Eastern Europe ignited their Jewish identities and empowered the reemergence of a Jewish future from countries devastated by the Shoa and Communism. Through our partnerships with The Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), we are able to fill a vast funding void created by a lack of government and in-country support for pluralism services. In an effort to foster Jewish pluralism and strengthen diverse expressions of Jewish life in Israel, we support Reform, Conservative, and Modern Orthodox organizations to help them attract new participants who would otherwise be disengaged from Jewish life. Uri Price, whose son goes to the nursery school of the Reform Movement in Holon (known as Congregation Kodesh v’Hol), participates in Reform Movement activities supported by JAFI. “When we were about to have our fourth child, we looked for an open community in which we could share out approach to Judaism. In Congregation Kodesh v’Hol, we found exactly what we were looking for,” he says. Uri continues: “We found a community that shows children a pluralistic approach to Judaism, and approach that we wanted to impart to our children. We are so thankful for the connections we make by joining the community, and the education system that our childen have been part of in the last few years”. With your support, each of the religious streams in Israel has the resources they need to achieve measurable objectives, including: • Developing a regional model for Israel’s periphery • Solidifying and guiding young congregants • Providing early childhood resources and programming for families • Providing counseling and therapeutic services for at-risk youth 7 EDUCATION IDENTITY RESCUE WELFARE You gift provides the critical resources to respond at a moment’s notice ensuring that Jews in danger anywhere in the world are rescued; and you ensured the protection and safety for Jewish communities’ synagogues, day schools, and other targeted facilities; and with this you brought hope to the most needy Jews. Your dedication to Jews across the globe- people very different from you, whom you have never met- has brought sustenance, care and hope. Their lives may be marred by poverty and the shadow of communism, yet you recognize their human spirit, and you feel the bond of shared heritage and responsibility. May 2017 marked the anniversary of a dramatic chapter in Jewish history-Operation Solomon- a covert 1991 operation by Federation partners The Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and others to airlift more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 36 hours. There were dozens of flights, thousands of people, few personal items and five newborns delivered during Operation Solomon. This mission altered the future of thousands and generations to come. Now, 35 years later these passengers are growing families and making dreams a reality in Israel. When the planes arrived in Israel, a young boy had no idea he would be a track runner pushing himself, not only to the finish line, but toward the dream of an Olympic medal. The voice of a young singer is strong and confident in the spotlight on a stage, her parents could only wish for their daughter before arriving Home.