Be Part of the Greater Good
2015 Annual Campaign
Challenges evolve. So do our solutions.
J-Campers at the Dwares JCC show their support for Israel
In just three generations we helped transform the world. Helped found and build a nation. Freed more than a million Soviet Jews. Saved ancient communities and brought them to Israel. We are the safety net that enables Jews to fulfill our obligation to take care of each other. We are the vibrant hub that celebrates Jewish life, and we nurture the Jewish community today and for the future.
Let’s change the world together. jewishallianceri.org
Be part of the greater good.
Your caring joins with others.
March of the Living New England Delegation 2014
You have the power to make a difference in the world. Serve a hot meal to a poor child in a village in Ukraine. Deliver medicine to a fragile Holocaust survivor in Israel. Build a roof over the heads of a homeless family. Give a local teenager her first Israel experience. When you connect with the Jewish Alliance, you put the Jewish values of compassion, generosity and responsibility into action. Your gift touches Jewish lives—helping vulnerable people, responding to life and death emergencies, inspiring Jewish life and learning, and assuring our Jewish future.
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Nourishing the Jewish soul: Meet Roberta
“I would not be alive without the Rhode Island Jewish community.”
Roberta Fox enjoys a meal at JFS’s Senior Café
“Coming to the Kosher Meal site is the highlight of my week,” says Roberta Fox, who drives to the Jewish Alliance three times a week to supplement her meager food stamps. “My food stamps only last for two weeks, so I rely on these meals to provide nourishment for my body, but also my Jewish soul,” she explains. Roberta was a teacher for 30 years, but has been unable to find work because of her age. Instead, she is forced to rely on the Kosher Food Pantry during holidays, and Jewish Family Service (JFS) emergency funds to pay her bills. Neal Drobnis, Coordinator of Kosher Nutrition at Jewish Family Service (JFS), who runs the meal site, planned a 50th anniversary party for Roberta and jewishallianceri.org
her husband, Sumner because they did not have the money themselves to pay for a celebration. “My husband calls Neal my boyfriend,” Roberta says with a twinkle in her eye. “I don’t know what I would do without him.” The Jewish Alliance helps Roberta and more than 200 seniors in our community who meet friends every day at the kosher Senior Café coordinated by JFS. They share a meal, a memory, and a laugh, keeping their minds sharp with group activities, fitness, and other support services when needed. “This is a celebration of their lives and they are family to each other,” Neal said. “I am honored to work with them.”
Be part of the greater good.
When one of us is in trouble, all of us feel the pain.
Volunteers connect people with the sevices they need
The Alliance pledges not to let anyone fall on our watch, and we rely on each other to uphold that pledge. We help thousands of people who are living on the edge. Young, jobless parents who need help putting food on the table. Grandparents who deserve to live out their lives with dignity. People with disabilities who face barriers to living full lives. When an individual or family needs help, they can turn to the Alliance or one of our partner agencies. Through food banks, cash grants, job training, legal services and crisis intervention, we give a hand to anyone who needs it—including many who never imagined they’d need help, until they faced unemployment, illness, or aging.
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Living on the edge: Meet Aaron and Stacey “I used to be the one who helped others; now I need the help.”
Aaron and Stacey of Warwick, RI
Aaron and Stacey live in a modest home with their two children. They cannot afford synagogue dues this year because Aaron has been out of work for 10 months. They are embarrassed to ask for abatement, so they have chosen to skip this year and “hope things get better once Aaron finds a job.”
Research shows that 2% of Jewish households in the Alliance service area fall below the federal poverty guidelines. Another 18% are living near poverty, while 30% are defined as economically vulnerable. This means half of the Jewish households in communities served by the Alliance face economic difficulties.
“Our income is very low and we’re just not able to make ends meet.” Stacey, a stay-at-home mom, would love to get back into the workforce, but she needs advice, coaching and connections.
The financial stability of these households can change month to month and even modest, unexpected expenses or loss of hours at work can catapult a family earning a median income into hardship and the need for external assistance. Reaching out to and raising funds for those facing economic insecurity, be it poverty, near poverty, or economic vulnerability, is a critical charge for the Alliance and the Jewish community.
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Our community stretches across the world.
Students at the Jewish Day School in Athens, Greece
When Jews around the world need our help, we don’t let borders get in our way. Years of financial troubles have left thousands in desperate need. The poorest Jews around the world have no one to turn to but us. We support agencies that deliver food and medicine along with self-respect and a connection to a caring, global Jewish community. Thousands of poor families, many immigrants, know their children will have a brighter future thanks to our programs. In places where Jews haven’t shared a Sabbath in decades, the Alliance is rekindling Jewish life.
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Our global impact: Meet Gadi
Gadi (right), with his friend Hyram at Ben Yakir Youth Village
Gadi is a 14-year-old boy from southern Israel being raised by his elderly grandparents. They live in a small apartment with two of Gadi’s uncles and survive on the meager social security funds they receive from the government. When Gadi first arrived at Ben Yakir Youth Village, an alternative boarding school, Gadi was shy and anxious about leaving his family and living in new surroundings. During his orientation at the Youth Village, Gadi’s counselor asked him about his interests and hobbies. Gadi could not articulate a particular pastime he liked because he had never been exposed to any. Together, Gadi and his counselor determined that he would try choir, and today, Gadi has found his voice. He is no longer the reserved, nervous boy who arrived at the Youth Village. He is now sure of himself, jewishallianceri.org
supportive of his fellow participants, and proud to speak of the “home” he’s made for himself. “This place has helped me gain confidence and learn more about myself, which I know will also help my family and my community. I am grateful for the support my mentor gives me and I know the connections and friends I’ve made at Ben Yakir will be lifelong ones because they’ve become my family, too.”
Be part of the greater good.
Connect with the rhythm of Jewish life.
Cost should not be a barrier to Jewish life. We support institutions that shape and strengthen Jewish identity—camps, schools, Hillel, and leadership experiences to name a few. Programs like PJ Library and Birthright Israel connect families and young people with Jewish ideas and values. In countries around the world, young Jews are hungry to know more about their heritage. We are finding new ways to prepare them to be the next generation of leaders. New programs bring young Jews together from Israel and around the world to study, work on service projects, and celebrate Jewish identities. In endless ways, the Alliance is helping to ensure that our culture lives on. Refashioned for a new generation.
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Help us carry our legacy into the future.
Students from URI Hillel
The Jewish Alliance has been supporting Jewish life for nearly 70 years. Today there’s still vital work to do. And we need your support. Contribute to the Annual Campaign and you’re helping to care for our entire Jewish community— at home, in Israel, and around the world. To learn more or to donate today, visit us at jewishallianceri.org or call 401.421.4111. Be part of our vibrant and thriving Jewish community by donating to the Annual Campaign.
Be part of the greater good. jewishallianceri.org
Be part of the greater good.
Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island Sharon Gaines, Board Chair Mitzi Berkelhammer, Vice Chair of Philanthropy Jewish Federation Foundation Jay Rosenstein, Board Chair Mindy Wachtenheim, Vice Chair Jewish Alliance Senior Management Team Jeffrey K. Savit, President & CEO Trine Lustig, Vice President of Philanthropy Minna Ellison, Senior Vice President Community Planning and Programming Manuel daRosa, Chief Financial Officer Daniel Hamel, Chief Operations Officer Gail Putnam, Executive Assistant/Office Manager Financial Resource Development Team Trine Lustig, Vice President of Philanthropy Hillary Schulman, Development Associate Michele Gallagher, Senior Campaign Operations Manager Danielle Germanowski, Endowment Operations Manager Jennifer Zwirn, Planning and Endowment
We partner with the following agencies to meet community needs: American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Avnei Derech Board of Rabbis of Greater Rhode Island Brown RISD Hillel Camp JORI Chabad of Barrington Chabad of West Bay Ethiopian National Project Foundation for Jewish Camp Friends of the IDF Haifa Rape Crisis Center Holocaust Education Resource Center of Rhode Island Jewish Agency for Israel Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island Jewish Family Service Jewish Seniors Agency New England Rabbinical College Providence Hebrew Day School RI Jewish Committee on Scouting, BSA South County Hebrew School URI Hillel Vestnik of Rhode Island World ORT
401 Elmgrove Avenue | Providence, RI 02906 401.421.4111 | jewishallianceri.org