U. J. A. Calls on Community Leaders to Spark Cash Collection Drive

An intensive nationwide drive, headed by Philip Zinman, of Camden, N. J. to raise $40, 000, 000 in cash by June 30 to meet critical financial needs of the United Jewish Appeal’s constituent agencies, got under way today, it was announced by Max M. Fisher, national UJA General Chairman.

Mr. Fisher also announced that a group of “dedicated and energetic leaders,” representing every region in the United States, has joined the UJA National Cash Committee, under Mr. Zinman’s chairmanship, to direct the $40, 000, 000 cash collection effort. Mr. Zinman is a UJA national chairman.

He appealed to leaders of Jewish community fund campaigns throughout the country to “give your personal example and exert all your influence to collect the maximum amount of cash from pledges to the 1965 drive.” The UJA head also urged that the bulk of the cash be collected by the time of the special meeting of the UJA national campaign cabinet to be held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, on June 23.

Two serous developments have coincided to create a cash emergency, Mr. Fisher revealed. First, he stressed, was the mounting overseas needs confronting all the UJA-supported relief, refugee and immigration programs conducted by the Jewish Agency for Israel, the Joint Distribution Committee, the United Hias Service and the New York Association for New Americans. Second, he said, was the ending of funds made available to Jewish assistance organizations by German reparations payments.

Mr. Fisher pointed out that the JDC, the UJA constituent agency which provides welfare services for 400, 000 needy Jews overseas, no longer is receiving German reparations payments, which averaged $7, 000, 000 annually for the past decade. “This lost sum, “he stressed, “represented 25 percent of the JDC’s yearly budget. It is up to the Jews of the United States to make good this heavy loss of funds, so that a slowdown in aid programs, and the consequent human suffering, can be averted.