By staff and releases
More than 300 local donors have committed to support Jewish Louisville through the LIFE & LEGACY initiative.
The commitments are part of a “collaborative endowment building effort” by nine Jewish entities here, including the Federation, synagogues, schools and other agencies, LIFE & LEGACY said in a release.
In Louisville, LIFE &n LEGACY has secured 333 local donors, who have made 467 commitments (Some donors are supporting more than one agency or synagogue). The effort is part of national LIFE & LEGACY initiative that has that has secured more than $1 billion in commitments.
“Our work continues,” Shelly Gillman, chair of Louisville’s LIFE & LEGACY initiative, said in a prepared statement. “ While it has been made more difficult because of COVID-19 issues we continue to pursue our Jewishly committed supporters who give us hope that we will be successful in our efforts to make Louisville a meaningful Jewish Community for all of us and our heirs.”
Started in 2012 by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, LIFE & LEGACY is a national effort to secure commitments by individuals to remember their Jewish institutions in their wills as a way of supporting synagogues, agencies and schools after their deaths.
In less than eight years, LIFE & LEGACY has secured donations from more than 17,000 donors in 63 communities across North America. The commitments ensure that organizations providing impactful programs and services during both calm and turbulent times have the resources they need to adapt.
Jewish Louisville just completed its third year in the LIFE & LEGACY with a virtual celebration on June 24, featuring a panel of Jewish Louisville Archive co-chairs: Fred Joseph and Frank Weisberg, and Abby Glogower, curator of Jewish collections and Jewish archives at The Filson Historical Society. Barry Bernson served as moderator for the program, which addressed preserving Louisville’s Jewish historical legacy and impact.
“Even in the midst of so much disruption and uncertainty,” LIFE & LEGACY National Director Arlene D. Schiff said in a prepared statement, “we continue to empower many generous and committed individuals and families to give back to the Jewish organizations that have played and are playing an important role in their lives.”
Want to help?
To be part of the LIFE & LEGACY, call 502-238-2735 or visit jewishlouisville.org/federation/foundation/life-legacy/.