Annual Meeting of United Hias Service Hears Plea for Expanded Aid

The need for the migration services provided by United Hias Service has accelerated in the last year, Murray I. Gurfein, president of United Hias Service, declared here today. He made that statement at the United Hias 82nd annual meeting, attended by 1,200 delegates from all over the country. Highlights of the meeting were messages from President Johnson and other leading figures, and the presentation of awards to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, and to the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds.

In speaking of the expanded need for aid to United Hias Service, Mr. Gurfein noted that the migration agency helped the resettlement, in the last year, of 12,050 Jewish migrants in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia and other free countries. “In addition to those who were helped to migrate,” said the United Hias president, “more than 50,000 other Jewish men, women and children benefited last year from the agency’s network of services.” These, he said, included world-wide location of missing relatives, assistance to migrants in connection with their legal status, and resettlement assistance in the United States as well as in Latin America.

James P. Rice, United Hias executive director, reported that 2,100 Jewish migrants and refugees, including 260 Cubans, were helped to establish new homes last year in 60 communities in 25 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

In his message, President Johnson noted that “82 years of conspicuous public accomplishment have earned for the United Hias Service its enviable reputation.” Other notables who sent messages to the meeting included Gov. Rockefeller of New York State; Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Jacob K. Javits; and New York City Mayor Lindsay.

The Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds was presented the award for aid given by the Jewish communities in the United States in “securing the dream of freedom and security of more than 365,000 Jewish men, women and children who were resettled in the United States since 1933.” Lewis H. Weinstein, of Boston, president of the CJFWF, accepted that award on behalf of his organization. The award to Sen, Kennedy of Massachusetts was given in recognition of his “devoted efforts in behalf of the liberal immigration law.”