U.S. Jewish Communities Report on Their Speedy Response to Israel’s Crisis

Hundreds of Jewish communities throughout the United States and Canada, from the smallest hamlet to the largest metropolitan area, have in one week responded to the Israel crisis with a speed and magnitude unparalleled in American Jewish history, the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds reported today. The first total of the emergency funds raised during the week is expected to be made public within a few days by the United Jewish Appeal.

The campaigns for the Israel Emergency Fund of the United Jewish Appeal are being conducted by the Federations and Welfare Funds in each city. The funds are for the human needs in health, education and welfare for those behind the front lines. These humanitarian services have become vastly greater for voluntary agencies as the people of Israel have had to commit their own resources to the defense of the nation. Preliminary figures reported by various communities and made public today by the CJFWF show the following picture:

In New York the first 74 gifts from individuals who had contributed a total of $2,091,000 to this spring’s regular campaign, have come in for an additional $9,702,000 for the Emergency Fund. The totals to date are well over twice this amount.

Detroit’s opening big gifts meeting brought $3,150,000, with top gifts of $375,000, and $300,000, and several for $100,000 each. Beyond borrowing in order to make such gifts, some have reduced their estates and inheritances, so that their children in effect are also sharing their contributions. In Cleveland, at two meetings for top contributors, a total of $3,000,000 was received from 150 gifts. Included are two gifts of $250,000 each, two of $200,000 each, and six of $100,000 each.

LARGE CITIES RAISE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WITHIN SEVERAL DAYS

Philadelphia has in the first days of the campaign reached a total of over $3,500,000 for the Emergency Fund. In Boston, the first 51 gifts received for the Israel Emergency Fund total $2,500,000. Chicago raised $2,500,000 for the Emergency Fund at a meeting this weekend. In Pittsburgh $1,250,000 was pledged at the opening meeting. Two gifts were for $100,000 each (one from a $10,000 contributor).

In Los Angeles, the first gifts announced from six top contributors totaled $925,000. Included is a gift of $500,000 from a previous non-contributor; three gifts for $100,000 each — one from a $7,000 contributor to the regular campaign. In Baltimore, $1,834,000 was committed at the opening big gifts meeting for the Israel Emergency Fund, from 75 contributors. Top gift was $500,000. Three gifts were $100,000 each; several were $50,000 each (including one from a non-giver). People who had just given $5,000 to the annual campaign made $25,000 gifts for the Emergency Fund, and others multiplied their gifts similarly.

The second major meeting brought the Essex County (Newark) total to $2,550,000 for the Israel Emergency Fund. In Milwaukee, 70 top givers produced $1,042,000 for the Emergency Fund at the initial meeting. In Atlanta, $1,132,000 from the first 100 top gifts exceeded the total raised in the entire 1967 spring campaign. In Providence, moving up the fall campaign to now, the community reported gifts totaling $1,516,000 from 104 contributors, or almost double what the entire campaign produced last year. San Francisco sparked by $786,000 from 26 contributors at the first meeting, the community total is well over $1,000,000. Miami is starting with $608,000 for the Emergency Fund.

With individual gifts of $150,000, $100,000, $50,000 and many of $25,000, St. Louis kicked off its drive for the Emergency Fund with $1,200,000 already chalked up from a limited number of contributors. In Tulsa, the first 19 gifts providing a total of $540,000, the community has now reached $633,000 and looks forward to teach $1,000,000. Norfolks’s results for both the Israel Emergency Fund and Bonds have now reached a total of $1,565,000 and the campaigns are still going forward.

Newport News, which raised $105,000 in its regular campaign, has now reached $465,000 in gifts to the Emergency Fund and the sale of Bonds. In Des Moines, sparked by a contribution to the Emergency Fund of $250,000, the community has already passed the $750,000 mark, and expects to reach $1,000,000 (more than triple its normal campaign achievement.) Included is an outright gift of $100,000 voted from the Reserve Funds of the Welfare Fund.

JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN CANADA REPORT TREMENDOUS CONTRIBUTIONS

Montreal, which moved its fall campaign to an immediate start, is well beyond its 1966 total of $4,350,000. The quota for Toronto for the Emergency Fund was projected at $7,500,000 but the community is now setting no ceiling as $2,000,000 was contributed in the first 24 hours. In Winnipeg, in a campaign notable not only for the number of dollars raised for the Emergency Fund, but for the fact that much of the leadership has come from the younger generation, over $2,000,000 has already been raised (almost triple the normal campaign achievement), with more yet to come.

In Calgary, Alberta, the community which normally has raised about $140,000 has already exceeded $500,000 for the Emergency Fund and has already remitted $450,000 of it in cash. Edmonton — another Canadian community which usually has raised approximately $160,000 now stands at $470,000 for the Emergency Fund and has already collected over $300,000 of it in cash.

In Memphis, the community has already achieved a total of $1,100,000 for the Emergency Fund — three times the total amount raised in its normal spring campaign — with more to come.

In Nashville, 100 top givers have announced over $500,000 to the Emergency Fund to kick off the community campaign. The announcements were preceded by payment of $100,000 due on prior commitments. In St. Paul, special gifts of $650,000 by just 101 top givers exceeded the full 1967 regular campaign total. Many gifts are from five to ten times the basic campaign gift. In Harrisburg, $462,000 came from 70 individuals. The bulk of this sum is for the Emergency Fund and the balance in Israel Bond purchases. With this response — already far beyond the regular campaign total level — the community aims at $1,000,000.

Dayton, in its second report, announced a total of $770,000 for the Emergency Fund with $200,000 already remitted in cash to the UJA, and more to come from meetings yet to be held. Binghamton, a community which raised $105,000 in its spring campaign, has passed $300,000, with substantially more expected. Phoenix already has achieved $400,000 for the Emergency Fund, almost twice the results of its regular campaign and still has two important meetings.