The national officers of the United Jewish Appeal have approved a Special Fund Campaign for 1983 to help the Jewish Agency maintain social services, welfare and educational programs endangered by the enormous human cost of Israel’s military action in Lebanon, it was announced today. Current estimates project a $220 million total cost for the programs to be sustained by the Special Fund.
At an emergency session called by UJA national chairman Robert Loup after return from meetings of the Jewish Agency Board of Governors in Jerusalem, the officers endorsed a resolution calling on American Jewish communities to move immediately to implement a separate special fundraising campaign in addition to their 1983 regular and Project Renewal campaigns.
The UJA campaign leadership was joined in the action by Martin Citrin, president of the Council of Jewish Federations; Jerold Hoffberger, chairman of the United Israel Appeal; and Henry Taub, president of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
Loup said that the Special Fund will be the American Jewish community’s share of the cost of the programs and services which traditionally have been the humanitarian responsibility of the Jewish Agency but which the Agency could no longer fund when UJA/Community campaigns failed to provide adequate support. Because of the drain on the Israeli economy resulting from its entry into Lebanon, the people of Israel can no longer sustain these programs, and the Agency must reassume the financial burden of providing them, Loup said.
“Because we did not raise enough money in the past, ” he said, “the people of Israel have had to bear the cost of life-enhancing programs that are rightfully our responsibility. The resolution adopted by the officers of UJA reaffirm our commitment to meeting that responsibility fully.”
COMMUNITIES URGED TO SET GUIDELINES
The resolution urges communities to establish guidelines for their campaigns that include provisions for accepting gifts to the Special Fund only from donors who first match or increase their 1982 gifts during the 1983 campaign. Loup said this step was taken because the officers recognized the need to increase giving to the regular campaign to protect the integrity of established needs locally, nationally and overseas.
Communities are urged to strive for substantial increases in pledges for Project Renewal, the worldwide social and cultural rehabilitation program for residents of Israel’s distressed immigrant neighborhoods.
The action of UJA’s leadership is the latest step in the mobilization of American Jewish communities for an emergency fundraising effort that began last month. American Jewish leaders who toured settlements in the Galilee and met with Jewish Agency and government officials during the Jewish Agency Board of Governors meetings returned to the United States to brief community leaders and professional and to outline the scope of the human needs resulting from the crisis, Loup explained.
The communities immediately moved to provide cash during the first week of the crisis and to accelerate 1982 campaign efforts, he noted. The drive to bring the 1982 campaign to a strong close is continuing under the leadership of UJA president Herschel Blumberg, while an intensive round of meetings is taking place at the community, regional and national levels to plan and organize the Special Fund campaign.
ENCOURAGING RESPONSE FROM U.S. JEWS
“The response from the American Jewish community has been enormously encouraging,” Loup said, “and demonstrates the depth of our commitment to our people in Israel and to the quality of Jewish life in the Jewish homeland. It is a message we hope the whole world hears, and understands.”
Reports of similar responses have been received from major Jewish communities in England, France, the Scandinavian countries, Canada and South Africa. Keren Hayesod, UJA’s sister organization responsible for fundraising worldwide, is committed to raising $100 million to meet emergency needs in Israel.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
