Our Jewish community operates on a fiscal year. That means our Jewish agencies plan their budgets from July 1 through June 30 and rely on a successful Federation Annual Campaign to fund critical community programs.
Jewish Family & Career Services provides a wide range of services to families and individuals, as they say, “for every season of your life.” High school students turn to JFCS to prepare for the A.C.T. and S.A.T. and for guidance in selecting the right college. Families seeking to adopt, dealing with serious illness, coping with addictions, looking for help with an aging parent, struggling to keep food on the table, or facing job loss or divorce, can all find help at JFCS.
Funding from the Federation Campaign ensures that all of these services are available on a sliding scale basis and no family is turned away due to inability to pay.
If we are to have a thriving Jewish community in Louisville tomorrow, we must invest in our Jewish youth in Louisville today. To that end, we offer Jewish education options through the Louisville Jewish Day School, Louisville Beit Sefer Yachad (the Louisville Hebrew School), The Temple Hebrew School and the High School of Jewish Studies. We also engage our youth through an active Teen Connection program for middle schoolers, BBYO for high schoolers, and Hillel and Birthright Israel trips for college students.
Funding from the Federation Campaign ensures that these options remain viable, relevant and available to all Jewish children.
When our parents were young, they provided for us and ensured that there was a strong Jewish community for us as children and they handed it to us in trust for our children. Today, as our parents age, we must preserve that heritage, not only for our children, but for them – ensuring that hot, kosher congregate meals are available to those who need them; that inability to drive doesn’t make them prisoners in their own homes because affordable, reliable transportation is accessible; that there are people to check on them regularly; and that counseling is available for their caregivers.
Funding from the Federation Campaign ensures that these and other services are available to seniors and those that love them.
The Louisville Jewish community is also part of the international Jewish community, and we know that we are all one family. When a frail senior in Kiev is faced with choosing between life-sustaining medicines and food, it is our responsibility to help. When a high school student in Akko wanders the street instead of attending classes because his family is dysfunctional and he no longer cares, it is our responsibility to offer him another option. When a family in Cuba needs matzah and a Haggadah to celebrate Passover, it is our responsibility to provide the supplies they need.
Funding from the Federation Campaign ensures that we fulfill our obligations to Jews and Jewish communities at risk in Israel and around the world.
The 2011 Annual Campaign raised $2.3 million.
The 2012 Federation Campaign is quickly drawing to a close, and as Community went to press on Wednesday, April 25, only $1,631,276 had been raised. How will we be able to meet all these pressing needs next fiscal year?
If you have not yet made your commitment to the 2012 Federation Campaign, please do so today. If you have already made your pledge, we are truly grateful for your support and hope you will consider raising it to help us achieve our goal.
Pledge online today, donate or pay a pledge online or call 238-2739. Together, we make a difference.
