UJA raises $30m. in emergency campaign

The federation is also planning a solidarity mission for August 20.

By MAX KITAJ
The United Jewish Appeal Federation of New York has secured $30 million of its targeted $60m. as a part of its Israel Emergency Campaign. The money, $10m. of which was immediately made available by the Federation and $20m. of which was raised in a fundraiser last Thursday, will go to a number of different charities providing a variety of aid to people in northern Israel. "We will have again demonstrated the multiple ways in which the Federation can bring together the philanthropic leadership of the community," said John Ruskay, executive vice president and CEO of the UJA-Federation, "even in such a crowded city as New York." New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Dan Gillerman, the permanent representative of Israel to the U.N, were present at the meeting Thursday morning that was organized to target the Federation's highest-level donors. According to Sharon Gefen, spokesperson for the UJA Federation in Israel, seven individuals at that meeting donated a million dollars each. The money will be distributed through some of the UJA-Federation of New York's partners in Israel, including the Jewish Agency for Israel, and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and through programs the federation has created itself. The Israel Trauma Coalition is one of these programs; it coordinates the services of a number of well known non-profits in Israel, including Eran and Amcha, in order to treat people affected by trauma. Its current focus, according to Gefen, is to provide psycho-social services to people in the North. The federation is also planning a solidarity mission for August 20 in which participants will meet top military analysts as they travel around the country, spending some of their time talking to Israelis who are benefiting from the Israel Emergency Campaign. Another mission planned for the near future will include Democratic Congressmen Jerrold Nadler and Anthony D. Weiner of New York and a number of leaders of the African American, Hispanic, and Pakistani communities, in an ongoing effort to expose a wider range of constituencies to the day-to-day realities faced by Israelis as a result of the conflict in Lebanon.