U.J.A. Drive for 1951 to Be Proclaimed at National Conference in Atlatic City

The United Jewish Appeal campaign for 1951 will be inaugurated at a two-day national conference which will open in Atlantic City on December 16, it was announced here today. The conference will consider a goal for the 1951 drive and will discuss plans and techniques to assure an effective mobilization of American Jewish support for the campaign.

Asserting that the recent National Planning Conference in Washington underscored the importance of the United Jewish Appeal, the national chairmen of the U.J.A. — William Rosenwald, Rudolf G. Sonneborn and Rabbi Jonah B. Wise — called for early planning and preparation for the launching of local campaigns throughout the country.

“The Atlantic City conference must serve to bring to the attention of American Jews the high record of their achievement in the solution of the problems of Jewish suffering and homelessness. Achievement has been the cornerstone of the programs of the agencies of the United Jewish Appeal and all contributors must take pride in that fact,” they said in their statement.

“However, we must not lose sight of the large and pressing tasks that will still confront us in 1951. Many thousands of Jews in Eastern Europe and North Africa are being driven by physical need and distress to seek a home in Israel. The march of events in the Moslem countries as well as in certain parts of Europe make delay both costly and dangerous. At the same time, the work of receiving and integrating the new immigrants in Israel must go forward to speed the liquidation of tent cities and place the newcomers on the road to self-support and happiness. In addition, continued support must be provided for the program of welcoming and adjusting those displaced Jews who will find a haven in the United States,” the statement said.

“It is particularly urgent that the forthcoming conference give an early start to the 1951 campaign because the United Jewish Appeal does not have any cash to meet desperate winter needs in Israel and Europe. We must prepare for intensified fundraising for the United Jewish Appeal in 1951 because the pressure for emigration from distress areas makes it necessary for us to plan on the basis of transporting and caring for 200,000 new immigrants in Israel next year,” the U.J.A. officers declared.