2020 Holidays Urgent Appeal

I am Gloria Max, the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation and its Jerry Doliner Food Bank. At the last minute, the Federation was notified that an organization, which was contributing food for our Christmas meals to families in need, would be unable to assist us this year due to the pandemic and many churches being closed for health reasons.

We have already reached out to economically disadvantaged families who come to our Food Bank regularly and put them on our list to receive a turkey, side dishes, fresh produce and other groceries for a holiday meal. Now, we have only weeks to raise the funds to provide some of these food items for hundreds of holiday meals.

In addition, we are not receiving as many donated toys from different organizations as we have in the past because they could not hold fundraisers during the pandemic. That means we need donated toys for the little children and – because we don’t want to forget the older kids – gift cards of $15 or $20 for tweens and teens.

One hundred percent of your donation will go to purchase food because the Jewish Federation absorbs all administrative expenses. We help low-income families, regardless of race or religion, and, in fact 98 percent of our clients are not Jewish. The Federation assists a very small Jewish population in need, and will provide toys and gift cards to about 25 Jewish children for Chanuka.

We have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure the truly need are assisted and require them to bring original IDs for everyone in the family.

The need is especially great this year. Thank you for your kindness and generosity.