Uja-federation Mobilization ’77 Due for One Week Beginning Oct. 15

The most massive telephone campaign in the history of philanthropy, to be known as Mobilization ’77, will be headed by Stephen Shalom, a New York banker, it was announced by Robert H. Arnow, chairman of the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies Joint Campaign, under whose sponsorship the community-wide mobilization will take place.

The Mobilization will seek 75,000 additional gifts for the Joint Campaign in the New York metropolitan area during one week in October. Nearly 5000 volunteers are to be recruited from all parts of New York to participate in the effort. Jeanne Ende of Manhattan and Abner Levine of Cedarhurst will serve as co-chairmen to Shalom. Recruitment of volunteers for Mobilization ’77 begins this month, through local synagogues, community centers and other communal institutions and organizations.

The week-long Mobilization will be launched with a four-hour star-studded television presentation on Saturday night, Oct. 15, over Station WPIX (Channel 11), with Alan King as host to a long roster of entertainers and other celebrities. The telecast will open a week of telephone solicitations by volunteers working in centers in the city and throughout neighboring counties. Telephone centers will be manned by the volunteers from Sunday, Oct. 16 to Wednesday, Oct, 19, It will be a project in which “neighbor telephones neighbor.”

PRELUDE TO THE 1978 CAMPAIGN

Last year’s Mobilization television broadcast, entitled “Remembering is Not Enough,” was seen by an audience of millions and won an Emmy Award. Nearly $4 million was pledged by viewers in telephone calls during the broadcast and in letters during the following days. Additional millions were raised in personal calls and in telephone solicitations during the next five days.

Shalom, who is director of Israel Discount Bank, Ltd., and of PEC Israel Economic Corporation, has long been a leading figure in Jewish philanthropy. He is a member of the UJA-Federation Joint Campaign Board and is New York State chairman for Israel Bonds. As Mobilization ’77 chairman, he directs the work of an executive committee representing all communities in Greater New York. Mrs. Ende and Levine have been key figures in two previous Mobilizations. This fall, Mrs. Ende will assume responsibility for Mobilization activity in urban areas, and Levine, a member of the Joint Campaign Cabinet, will be in charge of all suburban areas.

Mobilization ’77 will serve as a climax of the 1977 Joint Campaign and a prelude to the 1978 campaign. A primary purpose of the drive is to offer tens of thousands of New Yorkers who have not been previously contacted an opportunity to demonstrate their solidarity with the Jewish community and their support of efforts to aid Jews in Israel, 25 other countries and here in New York.