13th of May 2008 /

Youth imagine and raise funds for future

By Paul Haist

After its annual benefit banquet April 17, the Oregon Jewish Community Youth Foundation appears on its way to a successful year of fund-raising, according to John Moss, executive director of the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation, the youth foundation’s parent organization.

The banquet, held at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center grossed $36,000, including $12,000 in sponsorships and $24,000 donated during the evening’s mitzvah moment, according to Moss.

During the mitzvah moment—when banquet goers were asked to help support the youth foundation—some 69 individuals made pledges in amounts ranging from $54 (triple chai) to $2,500.

Moss put the preliminary net revenue figure for the evening at about $30,000. He said that all expense figures were not yet available.

The youth foundation provides Jewish high-school-age youth the opportunity to learn the techniques of collective philanthropy through hands-on experience. They raise money with events such as the banquet, assess community needs and then allocate their fund-raising revenue to organizations and causes they choose.

The youth foundation began five years ago as a bat mitzvah project by Julia Weiss, who this year completes her tenure with the group.

Weiss’ mother Marcia Weiss, addressing the banquet alongside her husband Stewart, said, “The kids on this youth philanthropy board know one person can make a difference.”

Noting that “OJCYF has been a constant” in her daughter’s life, she also said, “These kids have developed values that will take them into the future.”

She offered praise for Moss. Addressing him from the dais, she said, “This could not have happened without your vision.”

Julia Weiss credited the youth foundation that she created for keeping her close to her heritage.

“OJCYF has kept me connected to my Jewish background,” she said. “We have put our hearts and souls into this organization.”

Noting that her time with the OJCYF was coming to an end and that the organization was strong, she added, “I know my baby is in good hands.”

Like her parents, Weiss also expressed her gratitude for Moss’s leadership, calling him “an inspiration and a mentor.”

OJCF President Stan Blauer called the senior foundation’s stewardship of the youth foundation “an opportunity to participate in the formation of our future.”

The future was what the banquet was all about. The highlight of the evening was a presentation entitled “The Future is Now” in which several members of the youth foundation stressed that the quality of Jewish life here throughout their adulthood depends on choices made today.

The young philanthropists presented scenarios of variously grim and glorious futures—they dubbed them dystopia and utopia—tied to today’s decisions.

The centerpiece of the presentation was a film by OJCYF board director Michael Dearborn. The film explored the impact the youth foundation has had on reaffirming and cementing its members’ ties to their Jewish heritage.

Board directors Dana Bacharach and Blake Morrell made the plea for financial support in advance of the mitzvah moment.

Pointing to a seemingly optimistic outlook for Portland’s Jewish community, Morrell underscored his and his colleagues’ message of the evening that what the community does today will determine its tomorrow.

“The choices we made at OJCYF,” he said, “will guide us through our lives.”