Specialist in Farm Crisis to Work for Kansas City Jewish Group with Aid of Grant Fromort

In a further effort to ease the plight of Midwest farmers and to counter the activities of extremist groups in the region, the Jewish Community Relations Bureau of Kansas City, together with a grant from Women’s American ORT recently hired a specialist to work full

In hiring Carol Smith, a 36-year-old native of Highland, Kansas, the JCRB of Kansas City becomes the only Jewish agency in the country with an employee working full time on the farm issue, according to

Focusing initially on Kansas and western Missouri, ORT and JCRB hope to work with local farm organizations, Christian clergy, rural media, educators and elected public officials to determine how the Jewish community can best

NO SHORT TERM SOLUTION

Smith, in a telephone interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, said she does not

But she stressed that it is imperative that the Jewish community remain alerted to the needs of the farmers, and said that Jewish community activism can serve as one method to offset efforts

According to JCRB statistics, an estimated 2,000 to 5,000 “hard core” anti-Semites thrive in the plains states and Midwest and another seven to 10 sympathizers exist for those “hard-core” activists. An estimated 14,000 to 50,000 people are claimed to subscribe to some

Goldstein told the Chronicle, “The agricultural crisis has produced a pervasive despair which in turn has meant a rapidly increasing rate of suicide, alcoholism, mental illness, child abuse, and spouse abuse. These are the classic

‘A NATURAL PARTNER’

According to Goldstein, projects being considered range from direct financial aid for

Goldstein said ORT was a natural partner for the JCRB in its farm crisis program. A member of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council for many years, ORT has its own community relations program and one of its priorities is

“Women’s American ORT, as a result of its involvement with this project nationally, wants to become involved locally in hands on projects with farmers,” said Goldstein. Among the projects being considered are a woman-to-woman program between ORT

A MORAL RESPONSIBILITY

“Farmers need to have urban support for legislation to help with agricultural problems,”

In announcing the program, Gertrude White, national president of ORT, said, “What began as a concern about anti-Semitism has evolved into a very real concern about farmers and rural people in this country. Once we started learning about their problems, we felt we had

Smith, meanwhile, who grew up on a dairy farm in Kansas, has for the past several years been active in the farm protest movement. A musician who has performed farm protest folk songs at many farm rallies throughout the Midwest, she