Chicago Jewish Federation Must Provide $6,085,655 During 1963

The 1963 operating budget for the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago and all its institutions will be $29,409,778–the largest in the Federation’s history, Joseph L. Gidwitz, president of the Federation, reported last night at the 63rd annual meeting held at the Palmer House.

“In order to meet this budget Federation must provide $6,085,655–the critical portion of the larger total–during 1963, Mr. Gidwitz said. More than 207,000 Chicagoans will be served at Federation agencies in 1963, he predicted.

The total value of the facilities that make up the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago is now $55,000,000, Mr. Gidwitz reported, a substantial increase over 1961 based upon the opening of several new facilities. He cited a new addition to Rest Haven Rehabilitation Hospital; a new floor at the Orthodox Jewish Home for the Aged; the Simon Wexler Psychiatric Research Clinic, the addition to Mandel Clinic, a new Jennie Kaplan Surgical Wing and, under construction, the new Baumgarten Pavilion, all at Michael Reese Hospital.

Other agencies of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago are Mount Sinai Hospital and Medical Center, Drexel Home for the Aged, Park View Home for the Aged-Ruse Eisenberg Memorial, the Jewish Family and Community Service, Jewish Vocational Service and Employment Center, Jewish Children’s Bureau, Jewish Community Centers, Winfield Hospital and Tuberculosis Service, and Aid Association at Oak Forest.

County Board president Seymour Simon told the 600 assembled members of the Federation that without private philanthropies “the welfare needs of this community would require a paralyzing increase in government spending and an overburdening upsurge in local taxes.” “Conversely,” Commissioner Simon said, “private charities would need to raise almost twice as much money as they do now in order to absorb the welfare functions of the county government.”