THE JFCS PERMANENT ENDOWMENT FUND UPDATE
FALL 2014
8 Love for a Father 1 Fuels a JFCS Fund
8 Letter from Endowment Co-Chairs
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8 A Birthday Present 2 That Will Endure Through Time
8 Honoring the Past, 4 Building for the Future
8 A Volunteer’s Passion and Dedication
8 JFCS Carob Tree Society’s Named Funds
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8 The Match Is Back 7
Katia Savchuk, a beneficiary of JFCS’ Financial Aid Center, which the Wornick Endowment Fund supports.
Love for a Father Fuels a JFCS Fund The late Harry Wornick never enjoyed the benefits of higher education, but he had high hopes that successive generations would be able to do so. Thanks to a fund established at JFCS in his and his late wife’s names, Harry’s love of learning and his desire to nurture young people’s talents live on. JFCS friends Ron and Anita Wornick created the Harry and Florence Wornick Endowment Fund in loving memory of Ron’s father and mother. Harry’s life continues to inspire Ron—after more than 80 years. “My reverence for my father is beyond containment,” says Ron, a pioneer in the food industry and a major force in Bay Area philanthropy. It’s this reverence that prompted Ron and Anita to create the fund that has allowed scores of students to complete their degrees and become successful adults.
HARRY WORNICK’S LIFE CENTERED ON SUCCESS. “My father was a Russian immigrant, born in a shtetl, and he was completely self-educated,” recalls Ron. “He spoke many languages—Yiddish, Russian, and Polish—and taught himself English by reading the newspapers. There was not Anita and Ron Wornick.
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8 FRANK BATTAT CAMPERSHIP FUND
Dear Friend, Our $100 million Family Matters Endowment Campaign has now exceeded the halfway mark! Through direct contributions to the JFCS Permanent Endowment Fund, as well as through named funds, donor advised funds, charitable gift annuities, and planned bequests, caring friends like you are making it possible to help children, families, young adults, those with disabilities, and the frail elderly. You are ensuring that people can reach their full potential and live out their lives in dignity—today and for generations to come. Remarkable work is being done in our Bay Area community, thanks to your support. The stories profiled in this issue of Generations are only a few examples of our donors’ acts of loving kindness, honoring and memorializing those who have made a positive impact on their lives and the lives of other individuals in one of the most meaningful ways possible. When we think of endowment, we think of the permanent security that our community needs. JFCS has been in the Bay Area for more than 164 years, helping the most vulnerable among us. All of you who give annual and endowment gifts today, and those who will contribute in the future, are building a strong, caring community that takes care of its own. And isn’t that what community is all about? Sincerely, Lynn Ganz
JFCS Endowment Co-Chair
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Nancy Goldberg
JFCS Endowment Co-Chair
A Birthday Present When civic and Jewish community leader Frank Battat was on the cusp of turning 80, his three children asked him and his wife, Lee, how they would like them to observe his milestone birthday. It was clear to all that it would not involve a lavish party or a big box with a ribbon on top. “When you get to my age, you’re trying to pare down what you have, not accumulate,” reflects Frank. “At the same time, you’re thinking about your legacy—what would be most meaningful to your children and future generations.” In the end, the Battat children, with their parents’ blessing, decided to establish the Frank Battat Campership Fund at JFCS to support scholarships for children whose families cannot afford to send them to Jewish camps. “Lee and I never had the opportunity to go to camp ourselves,” Frank says, “but we know how important it can be in helping young people to learn how to do things for themselves, build character, and strengthen their connections to their community.” Connecting to their community has always been important to Frank and Lee, who have known each other since their student days at San Francisco’s George Washington High School and the University of California, Berkeley. Longtime Marin County residents, they were part of the early leadership at San Rafael’s Congregation Rodef Sholom, where Frank, a food marketing executive, served as president and Lee was on its board and executive committee. The Battats have also contributed their time, caring, and resources to many other Bay Area organizations over the years, but JFCS has always been a particular favorite. When Lee’s father and mother celebrated their 100th and 95th birthdays,
CONNECTING TO COMMUNITY.
That Will Endure Through Time
The Frank Battat Campership Fund for Youth supports scholarships for children who otherwise would be unable to attend Jewish camps. respectively, she and Frank created the Herman and Erna Wertheim Senior Assistance Fund in their honor. That fund, along with a bequest that Herman and Erna left to JFCS upon their deaths at 102 and 105, allows older community members to receive needed assistance. While Lee’s parents, longtime members of Congregation EmanuEl, instilled in their daughter a sense of responsibility to their community, so, too, did Frank’s parents—particularly his father, Ezra, an Iraqi-born Jew who inspired him to take an active role in Jewish philanthropy. Over the decades, Ezra, who met Frank’s German-born mother while traveling on business from the Dutch East Indies, became a pillar
in San Francisco’s Jewish community. He actively participated in the affairs of many Jewish institutions in the city. The Battat family’s participation in the lifeblood of the community has extended to its younger generations. Frank’s and Lee’s sons, Mark and Michael Battat, and daughter, Suzanne Battat Dowling, along with their spouses and children, have been active in their synagogues in San Francisco and on the Peninsula. Creating the Frank Battat Campership Fund has been an emotionally resonant experience for them as well. “This was a perfect way of honoring our father,” says Michael. “He takes pride in his Jewish identity, and we know that having a Jewish camp experience strengthens kids’ identities.” Adds
Lee and Frank Battat.
his brother, Mark: “We wanted to do something that involved all of the generations of our family and that afforded an opportunity for children in other families to partake in Jewish life to the fullest extent possible.” One of these other families—a single mother raising two kids on her own in Marin County—is extremely grateful to the Battats for investing in JFCS’ campership scholarship program. “The JFCS campership scholarships were absolutely essential in ensuring that my son and daughter had a meaningful summer,” says Sharon S. “I’m newly divorced, struggling to regain my financial footing, so the support my children received so that they could go to Camp Tawonga and the JCC Camp Kehillah was extremely helpful. Both of my kids had wonderful experiences, and they can’t wait to go back again—as campers and, eventually, as counselors.” This is music to the ears of Suzanne Battat Dowling. “My brothers I and all grew up going to camp,” she says. “It was important to all of us, and it should be an experience any family should have, regardless of means.” H
8 IDA RIKHTERMAN AND FELIX POLISHER ENDOWMENT FUND CARING FOR THOSE IN NEED.
Honoring the Past, Building for the Future
Sasha Kovriga and his grandmother, Ida Rikhterman.
Alexander “Sasha” Kovriga is a rare mix of youthful energy and old soul. A portfolio manager and partner at Osterweis Capital Management and father of three daughters, he exudes vigor and determination as he pursues the fast-track life of parent and professional. But as a former philosophy student—a Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of Brandeis University, he considered a career as a philosopher before shifting gears and earning an MBA from Harvard Business School—he is also predisposed to taking the time and quiet needed to contemplate life’s eternal questions: Why were we put on this planet? How do we care for ourselves and one another? How do we want to be remembered? In his quest for answers, Sasha has turned to JFCS, where he recently established the Ida Rikhterman and Felix Polisher Endowment Fund. The fund, named in loving memory
of his maternal grandparents, reflects Sasha’s desire to pay tribute to two individuals who had an overwhelmingly positive influence on his life. “My grandparents taught me many important lessons,” says Sasha. “Despite the hardships they faced in the former Soviet Union, including extreme antiSemitism, they were successful, optimistic, and resilient. My grandmother was a physician. My grandfather was from a very poor family and rose to become an engineer for the whaling fleet in Odessa, a very unusual position for a Jew.” Ida and Felix demonstrated in word and deed what it meant to care for those in need. “They took care of people, they took care of me and mother,” Sasha says. “They understood what it means to care for people in need.” This is why he earmarked his JFCS named fund for senior services. “My grandparents were fortunate,” says Sasha. “They both lived to 93 and had the support of my mother and me. But many elderly people do not have family and resources. They are all alone and require the assistance of the community. That’s why it’s important to invest in them and JFCS. You are taking care of your family.” Sasha and his mother felt
immediately taken care of by the JFCS family when they arrived from Odessa in 1989. “JFCS helped my mother in her career progression,” he says. A former biologist and researcher in the former Soviet Union, Sasha’s mother successfully transitioned to nursing. For Sasha, who was 16 at the time of his arrival, JFCS played an integral role in solidifying his Jewish identity and “setting me on the right track” for the future. “It helped me understand that I could be successful.” Through JFCS, Sasha made connections in the Jewish community that eventually led to a significant academic scholarship to Brandeis. JFCS also helped his grandparents resettle in Palo Alto two years after his and his mother’s arrival. As a young leader in the Jewish community—a member of Congregation Emanu-El’s Board of Trustees and a recent graduate of the Wexner Heritage Program—Sasha is inspiring other thirty- and fortysomething Jews to take a more active role in an increasingly diverse American Jewish community. His wife, Irina, an audiologist, recently joined the board of Kevah, which promotes Jewish study groups. “It’s important for us to develop connections with other members of the Jewish community who may differ from us,” he says. “Your world is only richer when you do so.” H
Ida Rikhterman and Felix Polisher.
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8 NANCY B. EPSTEIN ENDOWMENT FUND IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE.
A Volunteer’s Passion and Dedication “She only wanted to get out of the house.” That simple declarative has become a mantra to JFCS donor and volunteer Nancy Epstein—and it clearly and succinctly explains why she has committed her time, energy, and resources to JFCS’ Palliative Care Program. Some years back, Nancy regularly shuttled between the Bay Area and Los Angeles to care for her mother, Elaine Epstein, an advanced Alzheimer’s patient. As Nancy was leaving her mother’s house one day to run an errand, her mother begged to go along for the ride. “I told her, ‘No, no, there’s no need for you to come. I’ll be back in a few minutes,’” recounts Nancy. “I thought this particular errand might confuse and upset her. What I didn’t realize was how starved she was for company. At a time when her world was shrinking, she was seeking connection.” After Elaine died in 2008, Nancy wondered if there was a better way to have navigated her mother’s disease. She also wanted to restart volunteer work in her life, which had been put on hold during the years her mother required care. This led her to JFCS’ Palliative Care Program, which connects caring volunteers to JFCS clients with chronic or life-limiting conditions. For the past four years, Nancy has become a friend and confidante to Ester, a Holocaust survivor with advanced Alzheimer’s. The two visit weekly and share a
meal together. They laugh, share stories, and sing songs in English and Yiddish. “I call it my ‘do-over,’” Nancy says. “I try to be with Ester in a way I wasn’t often enough with my mom: present. I’d run back and forth to L.A. coordinating my mom’s care but rarely managed to just ‘be’ with her. With Ester, I’m there for her, meeting her where she is in her life. It’s a real gift from Ester to me.” Nancy, a wealth manager and financial planner, is so invested in JFCS’ Palliative Care Program, part of the agency’s Seniors At Home division, she decided to support it with a significant financial gift. The Nancy B. Epstein Endowment Fund helps underwrite the recruitment, training, and support of volunteers. “I’m very proud to be associated with the program. It is in the vanguard of palliative care. I wish this had been available to my mom. JFCS is in the business of improving the quality of life for all sorts of people with all sorts of problems. No one else does it like JFCS.” In dedicating herself to the program, Nancy is following in the tradition of her late parents, Erwin and Elaine, who contributed to their communities in many ways. After Nancy’s sister, Marilyn, died at 37 in 1988, only eight weeks before Erwin’s death, Elaine returned to UCLA Medical Center’s oncology unit, where Marilyn had been a leukemia patient. She became
Nancy Epstein (on right) with her client, Ester.
an award-winning volunteer for the next 18 years. “Many people thought my mom was crazy for returning to the site where my sister endured months of painful treatments. But my mom viewed it differently,” observes Nancy. “She wasn’t reliving her grief. She was healing. She knew firsthand how difficult leukemia treatments were for patients and their families. She wanted to provide the kind of support that isn’t part of formal treatment plans: comfort, attention, and understanding.” Nancy was honored last year with a JFCS volunteer recognition award for her commitment to the Palliative Care Program, which provides services to all Seniors At Home clients free of charge. She balances her gratitude for the agency’s acknowledgment with her appreciation for all of the intangible gifts she is receiving. “I set up the named fund and will leave a bequest in memory of my mom and in honor of Ester. But I do it mostly for me,” she says. “By creating a fund and ensuring that this program is supported, I’m the real beneficiary. I continue to participate in a valuable service that’s as meaningful to me as going to UCLA was to my mom. I couldn’t be luckier for this opportunity.” H
LEGACY GIVING AT JEWISH FAMILY AND CHILDREN’S SERVICES
JFCS Carob Tree Society’s Named Funds LIST AS OF SEPTEMBER 2014 Lorna Altshuler Endowment Fund Gita & Henry Baigelman Holocaust Education Fund Alvin H. Baum Jr. Endowment Fund Ann & Irwin Bear Fund for Palliative/ End of Life Care Allan Berenstein Endowment Fund for Seniors Jean-Helios Bermingham & Sherman Winthrop Family Fund Bernstein Family Endowment Fund Doris Blinks & Dorothy Shapiro Fund Beverly Shirlee Zimmerman Bock Fund for Girls and Women at Risk Sam Budovsky Memorial Scholarship Fund CAC Endowment Fund Libi & Ron Cape Endowment Fund Circle of Life Endowment Fund Clarence & Suzanne Claugus Family Fund Ruth Cohen Memorial Endowment Fund Gary, Holly & Erica Cohn Endowment Fund Roselyn & David Copans Memorial Fund Valerie & Paul Crane Dorfman Endowment Fund The Damensztein Family Fund Don Dorsey Family Fund Ellyn, Howard, & Laura’s Food Services Fund Nancy B. Epstein Endowment Fund Barbara & Jeffrey Farber Family Fund Martin Fleishman Endowment Fund Joseph & Rita Friedman Family Fund
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Phyllis Friedman Endowment Fund for Children and Families Janie & Don Friend Family Fund Michelle & Robert Friend Family Fund Lynn & Claude Ganz Family Fund Sarah Lee & Richard Gilman Memorial Fund for Parents Place Jeri & Fred Goldberg Endowment Fund Nancy & Larry Goldberg Changing Laws, Changing Lives Endowment Fund Goldstein Family Fund David & Marie Goldstein Fund for At-Risk Children Frances & William Green Endowment Fund for Seniors Grunfeld Family Fund for Children’s Services Henken/Kamph Family Fund Eve & Vernon Heyman Endowment Fund Deborah & Craig Hoffman Family Endowment Fund Marian Huret Fund to Help Young Women Start Their Careers Huret-Dulski-Op den Kamp Family Fund to Help Older Adults Maintain Independent Living Marsha & Donald Jacobs Family Fund The JIMMY Fund Ronald N. Kahn & Julia T. Rowe Endowment Fund Kaminer Family Fund Elaine & Michael Kaplan Family Endowment Fund Karen Katz Endowment Fund Margaret Kaufman Family Fund
Kay Family Endowment Fund Anita & Victor Keyak Endowment Fund Vera & Leo Kiachko Memorial Fund for Seniors Persis Thau Knobbe Family Fund Felix Kolb, M.D. Medical Assistance Fund Muriel Lerner Leff Fund Let Them Eat Bread Fund Fred M. & Nancy Livingston Levin Fund for Adults with Disabilities Lucille & Henry Libicki Endowment Fund Sid & Gerry Lipton Family Fund Sharon L. Litsky & John F. Sampson Fund for At-Risk Youth Eric & Greta Livingston Family Fund Anna & Alexander S. Lushtak Family Fund Maibach Family Fund for At-Risk Youth Maier Family Endowment Fund Maisel Currens Family Fund Mendel Family Fund Stephanie & John Mendel Fund Judith Moss Endowment Fund No One Can Ever Steal Your Rainbow Fund John & Barbara Osterweis Family Fund Joseph & Eda Pell Fund for Children at Risk Robert & Jeanette Pickard Memorial Rental Assistance Fund Purple Lady Fund Varda & Irving Rabin Family Fund
Miki Amelia Rayant Children’s Fund Ida Rikhterman & Felix Polisher Endowment Fund F.W.C. Rivka Peninsula Seniors Fund Robbins Family Endowment Fund Alex & Gertrude Roberts Endowment Fund Gerald Rosenstein Endowment Fund Tillie Rosner Endowment Fund Auntie Irene Hannah Rubens Girls Can Be Anything Fund Helen Rubin Memorial Fund Joseph & Norma Satten Endowment Fund Dorothy R. Saxe Fund for Children and Families Schloss Family Endowment Fund Norman & Adrienne Schlossberg Fund The Schwarzbach Family Fund Richard Segal & Dorothy Connelly Endowment Fund Helen Sherman & Felton McCoy Memorial Fund Shilling-Rieger Family Fund Sheri & Paul Siegel Family Fund
The Match Is Back Through December 31, 2014, you can become a member of JFCS’ Carob Tree Society and qualify for a $3,600 matching gift by committing $10,000 to a new or existing named fund— paid either upfront or over a four-year period.
Lana Berke Silverman Endowment Fund for Special Needs Audrey & Robert Sockolov Family Fund Ida & Leo Sonkin Fund Aaron Spector Take Me Out to the Ballgame Fund Candice & Richard Stark Endowment Fund Steier Family Fund Vera & Harold Stein Jr. Endowment Fund Ronna Stone/Tim Smith Family Fund Sucherman-Horn Endowment Fund Susser Family Fund for Children Esther Sweeny Memorial Fund Larry Tannenbaum Legacy Fund Bonnie Tenenbaum Fund for Youth Development Weinberger Children’s Fund Idell & Otto Weiss Family Youth Community Service Fund Vera B. & Lonnie Weiss Fund for LGBT Children and Youth Dr. Steven Wiesner Endowment Fund William & Joseph Fund Kathy & Don Williams Family Endowment Fund Mitzi & Adolf Wilner Memorial Fund LonWise Endowment Fund for Transgender Elders, Helping the Senior Gender-Gifted and Queer Harry & Florence Wornick Endowment Fund Diane & Howard Zack Family Fund for Children at Risk Zahler-Wachs Family Fund Dayna Ziegler Endowment Fund
In Memoriam We remember those endowment donors who have died in the past six months. Their names will live on through their generous gifts to JFCS. Rosalie Anixter George Fernbacher William Green Charles Izmirian Ernest Lampert Marvin Langsam Marc Monheimer Esther Rubin Irving Tapper Jerrie Wacholder
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JFCS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
8 HARRY AND FLORENCE WORNICK ENDOWMENT FUND CONTINUING THE TRADITION OF PHILANTHROPY.
Love for a Father Fuels a JFCS Fund CONTINUED FROM COVER a subject that he was not interested in learning about and discussing. He also was a successful craftsman, a master woodworker, like his own father and father before him, and he was active in the trades industry in the Boston area, where my sisters and I grew up. He kept retiring, but didn’t stay retired for long. He was happier working; he was very productive.” While Harry was instilling the notions of education, hard work, and success in Ron and his siblings, he was also teaching them about the importance of philanthropy. “My father was a warm man who was generous to friends, family, and neighbors who needed help,” Ron recalls. “If you lacked for something, he’d give it to you. There were many people where we lived and elsewhere who benefited from Harry’s loans.” Harry Wornick died many years ago, but Ron and his family have been carrying on Harry’s values in the decades since. A graduate of Tufts University who earned a master’s degree from MIT, Ron settled with his family in the Bay Area and became a highly successful entrepreneur. The Wornick Company, which he founded, was groundbreaking in the development of readyto-eat meals for the United States military overseas. With success has come the commitment to tzedakah.
Ron and Anita Wornick have many charitable interests, including the arts and medicine, but one of their greatest passions has been Jewish philanthropy. “There isn’t a Jewish organization in the Bay Area that I have not been involved with,” says Ron. Anita has also been involved in many Jewish groups over the years. She served as President of JFCS’ Board of Directors in 1997 and 1998, a pivotal time in the agency’s history, when JFCS embarked on a capital campaign to break ground on a new building to house JFCS’ San Francisco programs as well as Rhoda Goldman Plaza, a state-of-the-art assisted living facility for older Jewish adults. “It is a huge privilege to be Jewish and to participate in the Jewish community,” says Ron. To that end, the Wornick Endowment Fund at JFCS, which was established after Anita’s presidency, has helped scores of talented and promising Jewish students from the Bay Area complete their undergraduate and graduate school educations. The fund recently received a significant gift from the Wornicks so that additional young people who apply for assistance through JFCS’ Financial Aid Center receive the support they need to get ahead in life.
Ron Wornick’s parents, Harry and Florence Wornick.
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The Wornicks’ generosity has helped people like Katia Savchuk, a Harvard University alumna and award-winning journalist, who now works at Forbes Magazine. Thanks to help she received from JFCS, she was able to complete two master’s degrees—one at the London School of Economics, the other at Columbia University’s School of Journalism. “In the United States, education equals opportunity,” says Katia, expressing a sentiment Harry Wornick had articulated. “JFCS gives students like me a leg up so that we can get the schooling we need to make the world a better place.” Ron, whose own three sons continue the tradition of Jewish philanthropy, says that his father would be very pleased that a financial aid program is helping members of the Jewish community to thrive. “My father’s life was iconic,” he says. “After all of these years, he remains my greatest influence. His greatest gift to me was the flame that he brought to his family.” It’s a flame that continues to burn brightly. H
PRESIDENT Susan Kolb VICE PRESIDENTS Ian H. Altman Scott C. Kay James Shapiro Marina Tikhman TREASURER Richard Segal VICE TREASURER Douglas A. Winthrop SECRETARY Luba Troyanovsky DIRECTORS Joseph Alouf Lisa Bardin Tammy Crown Marci Dollinger David Dossetter Marc Fagel Rob Fram Nancy Goldberg Deborah Hoffman Alex Ingersoll Michael Janis David Kremer Kerri Lehmann Jan Maisel, MD Mark Menell Joyce Newstat John F. Sampson Lela Sarnat, PhD Ann Schilling Zoe Schwartz Miriam Sparrow Stephen Swire Robert Tandler EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Dr. Anita Friedman
ENDOWMENT COMMITTEE
CO-CHAIRS Lynn Ganz Nancy Goldberg Carole Breen Harry Cohn Paul Crane Dorfman Nancy Epstein Deborah Hoffman Judy Huret Alex Ingersoll Michael J. Kaplan Susan Kolb Siesel Maibach Daryl Messinger Dr. Raquel Newman Cindy Gilman Redburn Joyce Rifkind Alison Ross John F. Sampson Lela Sarnat, PhD Harvey Schloss Stephen J. Schwartz Vera Stein Bonnie Tenenbaum, PhD Luba Troyanovsky
JFCS PERMANENT ENDOWMENT FUND Barbara Farber, Director
DESIGN: SF Art Department
JEWISH FAMILY AND CHILDREN’S SERVICES of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties 2150 Post Street P.O. Box 159004 San Francisco, CA 94115 415-449-1200
www.jfcs.org