New Milestones & Next Gen Leaders

I loved seeing so many of you at Rosh Hashanah services this week!

Across the Lower Mainland we helped community members celebrate Rosh Hashanah, including in Abbotsford where 20 people came together to break bread for the New Year. Large groups also gathered for services at the White Rock South Surrey JCC and dinners in Langley and the Tri-Cities.

The days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are among the most poignant in our calendar.

It is a time when we take stock of our actions, examine our hearts, and look ahead with a combination of humility and hope. These are themes that also resonate with National Truth and Reconciliation Day, which we marked with an educational event for our staff led by Kim Berger and Alisa Farina.

This is also a time when many people give tzedakah. I am often asked, “How much should I give?” Usually, my answer is that you should give to your capacity, and even stretch a little. Like any good stretch, it shouldn’t hurt but you should be able to feel it.

On Wednesday, together with the JCC and King David High School, we announced a major milestone for tzedakah in our community: $50 million raised for JWest led by the Diamond Foundation!

I want to thank the Diamond Foundation for their tremendous generosity in making their single largest gift ever: $25 million!

They leveraged their gift to inspire others to dig deep, and I am very proud to say that their gift was matched by other very generous donors in our community whose gifts totaled the second $25 million. This is significantly more than any other capital campaign has raised in the history of our community.

These gifts are the first philanthropic contributions to the JWest project, and they join the $25 million previously contributed by the Government of British Columbia. In order for the project to proceed it will take additional significant philanthropic contributions as well as support from all levels of government. It will be a long road, but at this stage we have not yet opened the campaign to the public. You can read more at JWestNow.com. 

The Federation Annual Campaign, however, is open for everyone to give.

When you do, you’ll be helping community members who are having trouble coping with the skyrocketing cost of essentials like rent, groceries, and gas. You’ll also be helping the partner organizations that are stretched by rising operating costs that they cannot pass along to the people who are turning to them for help. You’ll be helping young people receive the mental health support they need. You’ll be helping residents in our partnership region in Northern Israel. And much more.

Along with the challenges our community faces during the extended pandemic recovery, there is hope.

That is because we have shown that we can tackle whatever comes next. The theme of the campaign is “Amazing Happens” and this is what we can accomplish when we support our community and everyone in it. 

As a donor, you will be joined by a new generation of philanthropic and community leaders in the Ben Gurion Society (BGS) which is a national recognition society for young donors who give a minimum $1,000 to the Annual Campaign. This works out to be about $80 per month, which is probably less than a lot of us pay for a dinner date. If you are a young adult and this sounds doable to you, then join us!

We always like to leave on a happy note, and this week we want to thank Gary Averbach, who opened the doors of his beautiful home to host members of BGS for their annual cocktail party. They honoured outgoing BGS co-chairs, Yael Segal and Becky Glotman, welcomed new co-chairs, Lucy Samuel (née Adirim) and Tori Segal (née Simons), and heard from leaders across our community.

As we start 5783 it is great to see young leaders getting involved and giving back, and established philanthropists leading the way and inspiring not just young people, but all of us. Between gaining traction on JWest, helping emerging Jewish communities thrive, and knowing that the next generation is stepping up in remarkable ways, it is clear that we have much to look forward to in the coming year.