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November 7, 2003
CJA sees a significant jump
2003 campaign is raising an average of 25 per cent more per donor.
KYLE BERGER REPORTER
With less than a month left in the 2003 Combined Jewish Appeal
(CJA) fund-raising campaign, the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver's
campaign director, Dina Wachtel, said the Jewish community has a
lot to be proud of this year.
"Usually when you start a campaign, the increase is at its
highest at the beginning and then it starts to go down," she
said. "I'm very satisfied that we're at the beginning of November
and we are still at a 25.1 per cent card-for-card increase over
last year."
While Wachtel said she doesn't expect to hit the goal of $6 million
set at the beginning of the campaign, she does expect a dramatic
increase over last year's $4.5 million total, up $300,000 from the
previous year.
"It was brave to set a goal of $6 million but we will have
an increase that we should all be proud of," she said. "When
you look back two years ago, and if we assume we'll get to $5.5
million this year, then that's an increase of $1.3 million in two
years. That's an amazing achievement and it shows that people care
about the community here and in Israel."
Last year's increase was considered to be even more dramatic considering
that, just a few months earlier, an Israel Emergency campaign had
raised more than $2 million dollars, apart from the regular CJA
campaign.
Wachtel said she believes that a continued sense of urgency to help
Israel and the entire Jewish world has contributed to another successful
fund-raising year.
"The case for giving for the 2003 campaign is on the front
page of almost every newspaper every day," she said, pointing
to coverage of violence in Israel and growing anti-Semitism in Canada.
"People understand the connection between their own well being
and what's happening in Israel and they are voting in favor of the
global Jewish agenda."
Community connections
On Nov. 9, a group of 35 members of Vancouver's Jewish community
will take their financial contributions one step further when they
visit Israel for a 10-day mission.
Organized by Federation, the goal of the mission is simply to support
the people and the state of Israel.
"There was never a single organization in Vancouver that got
such a big group to go to Israel," said Wachtel, who will join
the trip. "People obviously feel that this is the time to go."
The mission representatives will also have the opportunity to join
more than 3,000 other representatives from Diaspora communities
at Israel's general assembly Nov. 16-20.
There will be a series of telephone canvassing sessions held Nov.
23, 25 and 26. Anyone interested in volunteering their time should
contact Shelley Goldberg at 604-257-5100 or e-mail [email protected].
More than 1,000 people attended the annual Family Affair event Oct.
26, where more than $50,000 was raised.
Kyle Berger is a freelance journalist and graphic designer
living in Richmond.
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