Emphasizing that the dissolution of the United Jewish Appeal was in no way related to the financial requirements of the National Refugee Service, Charles A. Riegelman, president of the N.R.S., today announced that as a result of the break-up, the National Refugee Service is compelled to conduct an independent fund-raising campaign.
The announcement was made in a letter sent by Mr. Riegelman to the directors of the National Refugee Service, which reads: “Failure to reconstitute the United Jewish Appeal for Refugees. Overseas Needs and Palestine for 1945 comes as a severe blow to the National Refugee Service. Since the corporate organization of N.R.S. in 1939, it has looked primarily to the United Jewish Appeal for financing.
“The breakup of the United Jewish Appeal was in no way whatsoever related to the financial requirements of the National Refugee Service. Before the negotiations ended, there was complete agreement by all of the parties that the National Refugee Service was to receive a substantial preliminary grant representing a very large proportion of its minimum operating budget, plus the unrestricted right to seek additional funds from an Allotment Committee. As in past years, this grant to the N.R.S. was treated as a basic and prior claim on the receipts of the United Jewish Appeal.
“The priority accorded the N.R.S. means that its needs were entitled to first consideration. This was because the people N. R. S. helps are here ‘on our door step’. Also, it was because the N.R.S. does a measurable job – one that costs a sum of money always well within the resources available. Now N.R.S. must seek its finances directly from the communities – from welfare funds and from other combined local campaigns throughout the country (including New York City). With the personal support and aid of the men and women who have been identified with Jewish philanthropic work, our new task of fund raising will be made easier and its cost will be kept at a minimum.”
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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.
