The Orlando Sentinel reports that, due to dire economic circumstances, the local Jewish federation has stopped funding all Jewish agencies, except one JCC branch:
This month the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando did something it hasn’t done in more than 50 years: It gave no money to Jewish organizations, with one small exception.
No money to the Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando. No money to the Holocaust Resource Center. No money to the Jewish Pavilion, which serves the elderly in nursing homes. No money to the Jewish Community Center in Maitland. …
The decision not to fund Jewish organizations this fiscal year reflects the impact of the recession on donations, contributions and fundraising within the Jewish community and the struggle by the federation to pay its own bills, including the $5.3 million mortgage on its Maitland campus. The federation, which operates on a $500,000 budget, has reduced its staff from 12 to five in the past two years. …
The one exception is Rosen Jewish Community Center in southwest Orange County, which will receive $125,000 this year as part of a five-year commitment the federation made last year to the new center. …
Read the full story. (Given the news, it’s worth remembering that the Jewish Federations of North America was originally set to hold its 2010 General Assembly in Orlando, but decided last year to move it to New Orleans.)
