Campaign 2007: Federation launches annual drive
By Paul Haist
article created on:
"I come home and I am able to tell my kids that I helped someone today," said Jeff Nudelman.
Sharon Weil said, "We have so much versus most of the rest of the world. I can downsize if I want. But there are so many people who don't even have bread or a warm place to sleep or something to wear. I think about that."
She added, "I want to give something more because of that. It makes me feel better than buying something new for myself."
Nudelman and Weil take seriously the idea of tikkun olam, the mitzvah to heal the world.
The two of them are the co-chairs of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland 2007 Annual
Theirs is a demanding and time-consuming job that goes on for a year, but a job also that brings significant rewards of a sort not available by other means.
For Nudelman it's the "the opportunity to really live in the spirit of tikkun olam and make my community a better place."
For Weil, who vividly recalls her poignant meeting with an impoverished elderly Jewish woman in Tblisi, Georgia, who relies for her survival on assistance provided by American Jews, it's the knowledge that she, here in Portland, is a link in that lifeline.
"I get great joy in seeing if I can close a (donor) card and get an increase because I know it's going to help those people that I met, and many more," said Weil.
Both Nudelman and Weil come by their commitment to community naturally. Both come from families in which their kind of activism and leadership are traditions.
Nudelman's family arrived in Portland at the beginning of the 20th century.
"Back then, the way these folks helped each other was they just got together and if somebody needed something they all took care of it communally," he said. "And that really is the truest spirit and sense of what I believe federation is all about, long before we had real live agencies, and folks just got together to help each other."
Weil's grandparents and parents distinguished themselves for their activism in their Jewish communities here and in her mother's native British Columbia.
Her mother, Elaine Savinar, is well known in Portland's Jewish community today for her longtime active role with federation and as a past president of the Jewish Family and Child Service.
Weil's father, who was born in Hillsboro, was active in both synagogue life at Temple Beth Israel and with the B'nai B'rith Men's Camp and the Jewish community center. He took part in one of the first-ever men's missions to Israel in the 1960s with Henry Blauer and Stan Marcus.
Her father was among the first in Portland's Jewish community to endow his gift.
"He still is giving through his will," said Weil. "He gave his IRA that went into a perpetual fund at the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation."
For their own parts, both Nudelman and Weil have played visible roles in the community over several years.
Nudelman started out in B'nai B'rith Youth Organization and was regional president of the BBYO boys' group Aleph Zadik Aleph in 1978-79. He subsequently served for nine years as an AZA advisor, which he called "a great opportunity to help mold and build some of the young folks who are now on the federation board."
His continuing involvement led him to posts on the Mittleman Jewish Community Center board where he eventually served as president, the federation board where he has chaired the Allocations Committee and the former annual Gala.
He also has served as president of the Oregon Chapter of the American Jewish Committee.
Weil is a charter member of the federation's campaign leadership team, formed in 2005 when the federation implemented a new and streamlined organizational structure.
She served for three years on the federation's Allocation's Committee, as well as on the JFGP Governing Board.
Weil is a Lion of Judah, the group of women donors whose annual gift to the federation is $5,000 or more.
Not surprisingly, both co-chairs are strong supporters of the concept of federated giving, that is, a centralized and efficient mechanism for collecting funds, objectively assessing and prioritizing needs and then distributing funds accordingly.
"It really is the truest sense of building community and, more importantly, sustaining community," said Nudelman.
Pointing to the federation's various constituent agencies that provide vital social services Nudleman elaborated, "I value all the agencies, although I don't directly use each and every one of them. However, that doesn't mean that I should ignore my responsibility to help sustain all of them, because our community needs these services and without them many would suffer. Also, we never know when we or someone in our family is going to need the JFCS; we never know when we might need the Robison Home; we never know," he said. "So, those are the reasons, in my mind, that are important to continue a strong federated giving program to ensure the success and sustainability of all of our agencies."
Weil agreed emphatically.
"It's vital that we provide for the full range of needs here, while also not neglecting our responsibility beyond our home, our responsibility to Jews and others in need around the world," she said. "Without a centralized, community-wide and representative fund-raising and decision-making process, like this community has built over many years at federation, we can't be sure that some needs won't be neglected, that someone won't suffer unnecessarily."
And there is no shortage of need, which in some years seems just to pile on, like this year, for example.
When Hezbollah attacked Israel this summer and rockets rained down on communities in Israel's north, Jews across North America and elsewhere in the world rallied behind Israel.
Weil stepped up then to lead the Israel Emergency Campaign, a second-line campaign that asks Jews here to help Israel provide for war-related needs, while not neglecting the need for strong support of the regular annual campaign.
Meanwhile, other Jewish organizations are also asking for support for vital projects.
"We're talking about a lot of people in the community asking the same people for money, and it's very difficult to choose. What are you going to choose?" asked Weil.
Nudelman pointed out that the community often has been asked to support multiple critical needs, such as the rescue of Soviet Jewry, various local capital campaigns and support for Israel in times of conflict.
He was gratified that the community has come through. He pointed to the fund-raising campaign for Rose Schnitzer Manor a few years ago.
"People were concerned about the potential impact it would have on the federation's Annual Campaign, and in fact the campaign was up that year," he said. "There always have been other needs in the community and people step up."
While Nudelman and Weil are the campaign leaders, they are battlefield commanders working in the trenches with the troops soliciting donations.
What's it like asking for money?
"It's actually a very exciting opportunity," said Nudelman. "I never go in with the idea—even if it's some who has given year after year—that it's a for-sure thing. I try to get folks to engage in a dialogue rather than a solicitation."
He elaborated.
" 'Let's just talk about the community,' I say. 'Did you know the Center is incredibly revitalized and will be a jewel in this community for generations to come? Did you know that enrollment at Portland Jewish Academy is up and they are doing incredible things?' I just start talking about things that they may not know. I use it as an opportunity to be a cheerleader and an advocate for all the organizations. And then you get them asking more and more questions," he said.
Weil said she often shares what she has seen in Israel and in the former Soviet Union in the hope that potential donors will be moved in the way that she was. She aims for the heart, not the pocketbook.
"That's the key, to find some way to unlock not just the purse, but the heart, because once you open up your heart and you understand the need, then it's very easy to give," she said.
"We all have different gifts that we like to give to certain places, but I can't think of anything else I'd rather give my money to than someplace where I know it's being well spent," she added.