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September 26, 2003
Co-chairs enter year two
The 2003 CJA campaign hopes to raise $6 million.
KYLE BERGER REPORTER
You'd think that once someone retired, they'd have a little more
time to do extra-curricular activities like interviews with local
newspapers. That's rarely the case when the retiree agrees to serve
as a co-chair for Greater Vancouver's largest Jewish community fund-raising
campaign.
Such is the life of Bette-Jane Israels who, along with co-chair
Mitchell Gropper, has entered her second year as lay leader of the
annual Combined Jewish Appeal (CJA) campaign.
Taking advantage of a few free minutes while on her way to a charity
golf tournament for Beth Israel Synagogue, the Bulletin asked
Israels how she expected to follow up the combined $6.8 million
raised by last year's Israel emergency and CJA campaigns. That number
represented a $2.5 million community fund-raising increase from
the previous year. However, there is no emergency campaign this
year.
"I think that because of the emergency in Israel and the media
coverage, people were really aware of the needs," she said
of what helped rally last year's joint efforts. "But the crisis
is not something that was just one year and has passed. This is
an intifada that has been going on for three years and there is
no end in sight.
"The challenge is to make people understand that it is not
just the same old same old," she continued. "People can't
give at the same levels they gave 10 years ago. The price of bread
goes up and the cost of looking after our fellow Jews goes up."
In a separate interview, Israels' co-chair said that he is confident
that this year's campaign will come close to last year's and will
reach the $6 million goal established for 2003.
"It's going to be tough," said Gropper. "But we're
going to make it because we're reaching out to far more donors,
we're getting increases from far more donors and our canvassers
know what we're looking for."
Reaching out to more donors is exactly what Israels claimed as her
personal goal for this year.
Referring to a census done in 2001, Israels said that there are
only 23,000 people in Greater Vancouver who identified themselves
as Jews. Approximately 4,000 of them live below the poverty line
and another 5,000 are children, leaving 14,000 Jews who, she felt,
should be able to contribute to the community.
"Last year [the CJA campaign] had 3,545 donors," she explained.
"That leaves more than 10,000 identifiable Jews in this city
who do not give and that's a staggering amount. My personal challenge
is to reach out to as many of these people as possible, to entice
them and to help them feel connected to Federation and everything
we do."
Gropper said that this year's campaign leaders, both volunteer and
professional, are also working hard to establish the future of the
CJA by recruiting and developing younger leadership.
"We've put a lot of emphasis on building a young leadership
division," he said. "David Sacks is leading that division
and he is doing a fabulous job bringing young people together.
"We also continue to put a lot of energy into our women's division
and I think it's really important that organizations, especially
Federation, get new people involved," he added.
Both Gropper and Israels are examples of the benefits of leadership
development for the CJA campaign. Israels had been active in the
women's business and professionals division for many years, while
also contributing to the Camp Hatikvah and Beth Israel Synagogue
boards.
"I learned from my parents to be involved and that you are
your brother's keeper," she said. "Fund-raising isn't
an easy job but someone has to do it and I felt it was my time to
take it on."
Gropper's more notable contributions have been with the Vancouver
Talmud Torah board, as well as several different CJA divisions,
including the lawyer's division.
"It's a responsibility we share," he said of community
building. "This community has been very good to all of us and
you can give it back by writing cheques. But you really need to
give it back by getting involved."
Kyle Berger is a freelance journalist and graphic designer
living in Richmond.
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