Elizabeth Menashe welcomes 'campaign stalwarts'

By PAUL HAIST

article created on: 2008-10-01T00:00:00

Approximately 100 Jewish leaders gathered Sept. 23 at Portland’s Town Club for the annual Jewish Federation of Greater Portland’s Presidents’ Club event, co-chaired this year by Reuben and Elizabeth Menashe.

The Presidents’ Club comprises those whose gifts to the federation’s Annual Campaign are the largest.

After cocktails on the terrace, Elizabeth Menashe welcomed all.

“You are the stalwarts of our campaign,” she told them. “You set the philanthropy standard for our community.”

Menashe introduced JFGP Executive Vice President Charles R. Schiffman who also thanked all present for attending.

“The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland exists because of you,” he said. “You are its most concerned, most dedicated and most generous supporters.”

Schiffman recapped three innovative federation programs that he said will maintain the federation’s position as a “cutting-edge community philanthropy.”

Those programs include the federation’s new collaborative philanthropy model, which involves working with community leaders to identify community needs not being met at present and then matching those needs with donors’ specific personal interests.

“I am convinced that through collaborative philanthropy we can bring significant new dollars to our community services, while maintaining a healthy and growing annual campaign,” he said.

“The object,” he added, “ is to help the local agencies and congregations through supplemental giving, to improve and expand the services they offer.”

Schiffman also made note that the federation’s Leadeship Council is engaged in a planning effort addressing Jewish education, outreach and engagement, health and human services and Israel and other overseas programming.

Finally, Schiffman announced that the federation has commissioned a Jewish population study that will begin in the near future.

“This will be our first population study in at least a generation, and judging from experiences in other Jewish communities, it will give us extremely useful and sometimes unexpected information about our community, information that we can use to guide our planning.”

Schiffman thanked the leaders for their support. “For the past 88 years, this federation has been a central, professional, non-partisan leader and servant of this community. Its wisdom, its foresight and its strength can only reflect yours.”

JFGP Annual Campaign Co-chair Rabbi Alan Berg appealed for continued support of the campaign in troubled economic times.

“Giving when giving is easy is easy. What we are up against this year is the need for Tzedakah,” he said using the Hebrew word commonly understood as charity but whose root is closer to justice.

He called for strong support of the federation campaign for what he characterized as the federation’s “rationality” in directing funds.

“Rational, responsible, transparent and Jewish—these are our values,” said Berg.

He added a muted reminder about the dangers that can and have arisen for Jews in difficult times: “Your gift can help us respond to hard times and help to prevent these hard times from becoming dangerous times.”