–“Super Sunday,” a volunteer telephone marathon aimed at reaching hundreds of thousands of Jewish households nationwide, opened the 1981 United Jewish Appeal campaign Jan. 18 by raising more than $14.5 million in a single day, according to UJA national chairman Hershel Blumberg.
More than 17,500 volunteers dialed friends and neighbors in over 69 communities to make the event what Super Sunday national chairman Jerome Dick called “the most successful mass appeal in peacetime in our history.”
Preliminary figures show 128,000 donors contributed $14,569,461 and with a number of communities still to report, the total returns are expected to exceed $17.5 million.
Blumberg said, “The numbers are extremely impressive when one considers that pledges were received from nongivers and people whose prior gifts were $500 or less.”
In communities across the nation volunteers were crowded 10 deep around the phones. They were joined by members of the House and Senate, governors, mayors, sports and show business personalities and national and community Jewish leaders in calling well over an estimated one million Jewish households.
“This incredible celebration of sharing is eloquent testimony to the unity and commitment of the American Jewish community,” Dick said. “Super Sunday has brought all American Jews closer together and has demonstrated clearly our deep concern for our people in Israel, in our communities and throughout the world.
Pledges in five communities topped the $1,000,000 mark–Miami, Philadelphia, Metropolitan New Jersey, Greater New York, and Washington, D.C. At least 25 other communities will hold similar events in coming weeks as campaigns open locally. In Philadelphia Beryl Simonson, chairman of Super Sunday for the Federation Allied Jewish Appeal, said $1,102,171 was raised in pledges from 13,872 people.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
