KIM ROSENBERG, at right of flag image, is joined by fellow mission goers at one of 80 emergency water tanks installed by the Joint Distribution Committee in the earthquake-shattered nation.

Kim Rosenberg assesses impact of Jewish aid provided to Haiti

By DEBORAH MOON

article created on: 2010-08-01T00:00:00

“The JDC partnered with Magen David Adom and a hospital in Port-au-Prince (Haiti) to develop a comprehensive rehabilitation program for amputees because, unfortunately, Israel is so good at this through its wars and terrorism,” said Portlander Kim Rosenberg on her return from Haiti.

As new co-chair of the 2011 annual campaign of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, Rosenberg joined a national Jewish Federation of North America fact-finding tour to Haiti July 5-7 to see how funds donated to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee are being used to aid Haitians in the wake of the January earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 people and displaced more than 1.2 million. Through JFNA and generous individuals, JDC has raised more than $7.3 million to assist quake victims, including some $34,000 donated through the Portland federation.

Rosenberg said that prosthetics and rehabilitation for amputees was virtually nonexistent in Haiti and with the soaring number of amputees since the earthquake, both were sorely needed. She said the JFNA group’s visit to Haiti’s University Hospital was extremely moving.

“We saw Georgio, a handsome, 25-year-old man, working with a physical therapist,” said Rosenberg. “He was so happy to see us and was so joyous to be able to walk. Without rehabilitation and prosthesis, his productive life would be ended. Because of us, this handsome young guy is able to continue life.”

Additionally, Rosenberg said that the JDC representative in Haiti, Gideon Herscher, partnered with a German prosthetic company to create a prosthetic manufacturing facility on site. In addition to providing the needed prosthesis, the project has also provided needed jobs for Haitians, she said.

“About 60 percent of the people in Port au Prince worked for the government (before the earthquake),” said Rosenberg. “With the infrastructure basically destroyed, so many have no jobs.”

The prosthetic and rehabilitation projects were representative of many JDC relief efforts she saw. The JDC has focused on four areas: food and water, shelter, medical aid and supplies, and education. In all their relief efforts, Rosenberg said the JDC has partnered with local Haitian agencies.

“The JDC philosophy is to work with the Haitian community to create a sustained environment for the program and then leave,” she said. “They give assistance and training and then leave. … For example, JDC in conjunction with World ORT partnered with Haitians to train 900 Haitian builders in construction techniques that will help secure homes and buildings against future natural disasters. That not only helps with training, it helps build the economy.”

In addition to seeing exciting, essential projects in the JDC’s four focus areas, Rosenberg said she was also pleased to see how financially responsibly the donations are handled. She said a Haitian representative told the JFNA group that 90 percent of the NGOs (non-governmental organizations) sending money to Haiti have no representative and no accounting of how the funds are used. The JDC has a full-time representative, Herscher, ensuring that all funds go to essential programs.

“I saw with my own eyes and I want to say with 100 percent confidence, the JDC has a philosophical and fiduciary obligation to donors,” she said.

She added that because it maintains a general relief fund, the JDC was able to send aid to Haiti even before funds earmarked for that tragedy began to roll in.

Rosenberg said she was proud that Israel was among the first to reach Haiti and set up emergency field hospitals. While saying it is unfortunate that Israel has had to develop such expertise in relief efforts, she is proud the Jewish nation uses those skills to help heal the world.

She said that Herscher said he was surprised to be met with anti-Semitism and skepticism about why Jews were sending aid to Haiti. She said he has done an excellent job explaining to Haitians Israel’s values of tikkun olam (healing the world) and tikkun ha’lev (repairing the heart), which Rosenberg said, “to me means an incredible sensitivity to the human spirit and to each human being.”

As an incoming co-chair of the federation campaign, Rosenberg said she wants to share with the community both the heart of what federation dollars accomplish and the financially responsible way in which those dollars are used.

“I feel extremely passionate abou the use and distribution of dollars by the federation and the JDC,” she said. “I am part of this amazing community and my community extends from Portland to Jerusalem to Port-au-Prince. I feel so lucky that I get to be part of a community that values so many important things—family, education, care of seniors, helping the disenfranchicsed—and also a community that values the celebration of life cycle events and holidays. I want to reach out to anyone who wants to be part of that community.”

Michael Weiner, who has chaired or co-chaired the federation campaign for the past three years (CHECK), said he is thrilled to have Rosenberg join him at the helm of the 2011 campaign.

“I am delighted to have her perspectives and experience,” said Weiner. “She is going to be a good addition and we are already cooking up plans for the coming year.”

Last year, Rosenberg chaired the federation’s Women’s Philanthropy Committee. A lifelong Portlander, she has been active in many aspects of the community including Congregation Shaarie Torah, AIPAC, the board of Cedar Sinai Park and the board of the Harold Schnitzer Diabetes Research Center at Oregon Health and Science University. She said in her spare time, she works out at the J (Mittleman Jewish Community Center).

Noting he had just returned from a campaign mission to Budapest and Israel (see story page XX), Weiner added, “Part of that mission was to get new ideas for campaign. Between that and Kim’s experience, I think we will have an interesting and productive year.”