The Fund Raising Presentation

Had an email from Amy this morning, she suggested that I post what I said at the meeting. Here it is. If you have any thoughts or comments, let me know. The other thing I want to mention is that what I said was actually about 90% of this. Without reading from a paper I was able to throw in some spontaneous comments!

Before I start I want to give credit to Dr. Misha Galperin,
Ex VP and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater
Washington. What I have to tell you is based on
Galperin’s Yom Kippur message entitled Jonah,
A Pair of Jeans and a Story of Jewish Peoplehood:
A Message for Yom Kippur 2007/5768.

Galperin talks about Jewish Peoplehood; “The story of
Peoplehood does not and should not come down to a
well-spread bagel. Peoplehood is the combination of
culture, religion, history and values under a Jewish
umbrella that gives us a profound feeling of being
connected to other Jews. In America we talk about
individual rights being a central and abiding feature
of being an American citizen. However, the American
story is not the Jewish story. The Jewish story is not
about rights it’s about responsibility” and that is what
I want to tell you about!

With this as our background; I want to talk to you about
dreams, however, I want you to consider 2 kinds of
dreams; first your own dreams and second those we
dream on behalf of the Jewish Community. For tonight’s purposes, let’s concentrate on the later!


It’s a warm sunny afternoon, our bus pulls up in front of a low, one story school building…could be any school in Stamford, however, we’re on a Women’s Division Mission in Afula our sister city in Israel.

We’ve come to hear about an afternoon program for children at risk called the SPACE program (Schooling Priorities and Community Empowerment; part of the Ethiopian National Project – in partnership with The Joint and Jewish Agency). This is a comprehensive and integrated package of programs aimed to advance the scholastic achievement of youth and empower the Ethiopian immigrant community in Israel.

What to expect? Who are these kids? Why are they at risk? We are met by someone from the Joint as well as a lovely young woman, I would guess to be in her 30’s , dressed in a Jeans jacket and pants, black turtle neck and a wide hair band holding back her curly hair. What’s different about her? She’s Black, with a red mark on her forehead and a small earring in her nose. She is the first Ethiopian woman we have met since arriving in Israel. Her name is Mahail.

Mahail is the coordinator of the SPACE program. She came to Israel when she was 9 and has been living here for 21 years; she is dedicated to this program because she wants to see her community succeed. She wants her kids (both her own and in the program) to have the same opportunities as other children in Israel. As you may or may not know to get ahead in Israel you have to be able to do well on tests (this includes both the Army and to go on to University). These are dreams we have for our kids; these families have the same dreams. There is, however, a major difference in the Ethiopian Community; the parents of these kids can’t help them. The majority of the parents cannot speak, read or write Hebrew. These immigrants are different from others that have come to Israel. With the Russians, for instance, they had to learn a new language; with the Ethiopians they know no other language. They cannot write at all, most of them have never even seen a pencil! The SPACE program was established to help these kids do better in school and it is working!

The most amazing part of the afternoon is meeting the kids! We split our group in half to make the experience even more intimate. We are introduced to 4 teens: Avitah with the beautiful smile; he loves to play soccer; he learned English in the 3rd grade, he has 2 sisters and 4 brothers, Chaim is also into computers and soccer, he tells us he doesn’t need help doing his homework he can do it himself, Hadassh whose parents came with Project Moses likes books and computers, and Gila who was born in Israel, her parents came with Project Moses. They tell us about the program, how they are doing much better at school and the wonderful personal attention they receive. Then we ask them about their dreams, and you know what, they are just like our kids:
Avitah wants to be a football player and own a Ferrari, not just any Ferrari, a blue one!
Chaim wants to be a bank manager
Hadassah wants to be Prime Minister (and why not!)
Gila is not sure what tomorrow will bring; she wants peace in Israel. She would like to be a journalist or a lawyer
We come away thinking that we can be dream makers; we can keep their dreams alive; just like we would for our kids; we have that responsibility, after all didn’t we bring them to Israel for that purpose???



So what am I telling you? We in this room, along with all the other givers to the Campaign, have a unique opportunity and responsibility. We can change the lives of these kids and thousands of other people in 60 countries throughout the world. We can give them the tools to make their dreams into realities! Join David and me, be dream makers, you will never feel better.



So, what do I want you to do…
if you have not yet pledged to the 2008 Campaign,
take out your pledge card now and join us, make a
commitment, be responsible. Keep in mind, there’s
a time to listen, a time to think and a time for action…
this is the time for action!