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August 15, 2003/Av 17 5763, Vol. 55, No. 51
On a mission
Locals visit Israel, Moldova to see funds at work
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
Sandy Rife, left, Women's Department campaign chairwoman, and Mim Bottner, Annual Campaign chairwoman, enjoy lunch with children at a Jewish Agency for Israel camp in Moldova in the former Soviet Union.
Photo courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix
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Local leaders in the Jewish community were able to see the Jewish Federations Annual Campaign funds at work.
Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix representatives Mim Bottner, annual campaign chairwoman; Sandy Rife, Women's Department campaign chairwoman; Dave Sherman, campaign trainer; and John Magoulas, senior campaign associate, joined 150 lay and professional leaders from 40 Jewish communities on the United Jewish Communities 2004 Campaign Chairmen and Directors Mission to Israel and Moldova.
From July 7-14, the participants visited programs and beneficiaries of annual campaign funds, distributed through Jewish Agency for Israel and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
In Israel, the participants met with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and former Prime Ministers Shimon Peres and Benjamin Netanyahu, and visited with some of the 100,000 Israeli children enrolled in summer camps, funded through the Israel Emergency Campaign.
"Where else besides a UJC mission can you have the opportunity to sing, dance and play with hundreds of Jewish children at summer camps in Kishinev and Israel and know that you money made it all possible," says Sherman.
This was the first time a national UJC mission visited Kishinev (Moldova), in the former Soviet Union, which has recently seen a renewal of Jewish life, according to Magoulas. Participants visited programs assisted by JAFI and JDC, including youth day camps and senior centers.
"We had the opportunity to follow our dollars around the world and see the people whose lives are safer, and nourished, both literally and spiritually, by the funds we provide," says Bottner. "We bring back to this community the many thanks we received from children to senior citizens ... from Kishinev to Jerusalem."
Mission participants pledged $3.9 million to the 2004 UJA Federation Campaign, the annual campaign of the UJC and the Jewish Federations of North America. This was a 29.6-percent increase over donations last year.
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