JEWISH COALITION FOR SYRIAN REFUGEES IN JORDAN URGES JEWISH COMMUNITY SUPPORT FOR REFUGEE AID

Philanthropist Dr. Georgette Bennett Issues New Major Matching Grant Challenge to Coalition by Labor Day

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York, NY, August 12, 2013 – Responding to the dire humanitarian crisis facing Syrian civilian refugees, the Jewish Coalition for Syrian Refugees in Jordan is calling on the Jewish community to raise more funds to aid the growing Syrian refugee population in Jordan’s urban areas and refugee camps. Donations will supplement over $200,000 the Coalition already dispersed to Jordanian and international partners operating nonpolitical aid programs providing food, water, shelter, medical care, clothing, and other services. Dr. Georgette Bennett, whose $100,000 lead gift kicked-off the Coalition’s work, has just issued a $50,000 two for one matching grant challenge to the Coalition by Labor Day to encourage Jewish community support to ensure critical care for languishing refugees.

“It is an imperative of Judaism to not stand by idly in the face of a humanitarian nightmare of this magnitude. As a one-time refugee and child of Holocaust survivors, I relate deeply to the Golden Rule – something that all the great religions hold in common. We hope that all their communal organizations will join us in this effort,” said Bennett, President & Founder of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, a non-sectarian intergroup relations organization.

The Coalition, a 15-member sub-group of the Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief (JCDR), is already supporting the work of the Jordan Red Crescent, World Jewish Relief (for Save the Children), International Rescue Committee, and HIAS in the areas of food distribution, medical programs, and resettlement activities.

“Wherever there is humanitarian disaster and devastation, Jews and the Jewish community have always come together to do what we can to address suffering. It is important that the entire Jewish community, as well as faith groups across the spectrum, do everything possible to alleviate the impact and misery of this terrible crisis,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, a Coalition member.

Members of Coalition include: the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Jewish Federations of North America, Mazon, Rabbinical Assembly, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Union for Reform Judaism, United Synagogue Conservative Judaism, Ve’ahavta: The Canadian Jewish Humanitarian and Relief Committee, World Jewish Congress, and World Jewish Relief.

“As the Coalition continues its critical efforts to care for these refugees, broader Jewish community and other faith group support reinforces the notion that we cannot turn away from one of the largest humanitarian crises of our time, in the midst of a dangerous and complex ongoing civil war. We must do more to care for the countless innocent victims of this horrendous conflict," said Alan H. Gill, CEO of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), another Coalition member.

To make a contribution, visit: www.jcdr.org. Or make a check payable to the “Jewish Coalition for Syrian Refugees in Jordan” and post it to: JDC, P.O. Box 4124, New York, NY 10163.

Over the past several years, the Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief has responded to major crises in Sudan, Haiti, Japan, and the Horn of Africa.

About JCDR The Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief (JCDR) brings together the experience, expertise, and resources of national, primarily North American Jewish organizations that seek to assist victims of natural or man-made disasters outside of North America on a non-sectarian basis. JCDR maximizes the use of financial resources, coordinates the activities of its member agencies, educates the members’ constituencies and the general public about current disaster situations and the Jewish response, and demonstrates the long tradition of Jewish humanitarianism.