The
Charlotte
Jewish
NEWS
Non-Profit Oruani/Htion
lU'I.K KATK
l?.S. l»osla«f I'AII)
Chiirlt>lU‘. N. C.
I'crniil No. I20H
Vol. 2 No. 6
Charlotte, North Carolina
August 1980
Federation ’80 Campaign
Reaches $610,000
Federation Hires
Social Worker
With an overall increase of
25% over their last year’s gifts,
more than 900 donors to the
1980 Federation Campaign
have made this the largest
peacetime total ever achieved.
Women’s Division pledges
reached an all time high of $30,-
000. Cochairpersons Jane Good
man, Gail Bienstock and Rose
Luski attribute the success of
the drive to the intensive
educational program conducted
in the fall.
“When people understand,
really understand the needs,
they respond generously. The
women of our community have
proven their willingness and
capability. This was a wonder
ful campaign and next year’s
will be even better,” stated Mrs.
Bienstock.
Alvin Levine and Shelton
Gorelick, cochairpersons for the
Men’s Campaign expressed
their pleasure at the outstan
ding results, but they have in
dicated the drive isn’t over yet.
They report there are still a
number of donors who gave in
previous years who haven’t
been reat'hed.
“We will reach them because
we know they want to be reach
ed. These are people who have
proven that they care,” said Mr.
Levine.
According to all estimates, the
final total for the 1980 Federa
tion Campaign could top $620,-
000.
Allocations
Procedure Beginning
Under the chairpersonship of
Stan Greenspon, the
Allocations Committee of the
Federation is beginning the
work of determining how the
Campaign funds will be dis
tributed. The Committee uses
the “Evaluator” system in
which members of the Federa
tion Board are assigned to leam
about the smaller local and
national organizations to whom
funds have been given in the
past. Actually, the task of educa
tion falls on the organizations
themselves. Each organization
receives the name of their
assigned evaluator and are in
formed it is their task to contact
and inform that person about
the services and needs of the
organization. Based on what
they learn the evaluators
prepare and submit written
After five years of operation
the JCC has passed the 500
mark in memberships. This
achievement was announced by
Ben Jaffa Jr., President of the
JCC, who commented, “This is a
tribute to those community
leaders, board members and
staff who have worked so hard
to make the JCC the wonderful
institution it is.”
When the JCC opened its
doors in 1975 it attracted 395
memberships. In 1976 that
figure fell to 385 and then to 375
in 1977. However, the board
wasn’t overly concerned. They
were aware that national
statistics showed every JCC
which opened in the past 20
years experienced a drop in
membership by the end of the se
cond year of 17-19%. Based on
those figures the Charlotte JCC
was doing extremely well to
have gone down by just 5%.
In 1978 the confidence of the
board proved correct when the
membership surged to 422.
Another leap was seen in 1979 to
477 memberships. The 500
memberships actually represent
approximately 1800 individuals
ranging in age from 2 weeks to
92 years.
Marilyn Shapiro, member
ship chairperson, says “1980 is
far from over. We expect to top
520 before the year is out.”
In
The
News
JCC
CHILDREN’S
FALL CLASS
SCHEDULE,
P. 6&7
Bar/Bat Mitzvahs p. n
Books in Review p. 5
Candlelighting p. 2
Classified Ads p. 11
Community Calendar p. 11
Dry Bones p. 3
Editorials p. 2
JCC Activities p. 9
Organizations p. g
Random Thoughts p. 2
This *n That p. 4
World Beat p. 3
Safety Awareness Day P- 9
Coming Next Month....
JCC Adult Class Schedule
reports to the Allocations Com
mittee recommending dollar
levels for 1980. As part of this
process evaluators are assigned
different organizations each
year and thus the overall
Federation Board becomes
educated and current about all
the recipients of funds. The ma
jor local recipients (Blumenthal
Home, JCC, Hillel, Academy
and BBYO) have evaluators
assigned who are members of
the Allocations Committee.
Each of these organizations is
required to make an in person
presentation to the entire Com
mittee as well as to educate their
evaluator.
Even with substantial in
creases in local and national
allocations the Charlotte
Jewish Federation still sends
proportionately more dollars to
Israel than is sent by almost
any other comparable com
munity. In 1979 the Federation
sent 71% to Israel. The 1980
figure is expected to be at least
the same if not greater.
Academy Hires
Netv Teacher
JCC Membership Exceeds 500
Shoshana Ravivi
An additional teacher for the
Hebrew Academy has been
hired to teach Hebrew. Mrs.
Shoshana Ravivi, though
bom in the U.S., has lived in
Natanya, Israel with her hus
band and children for many
years.
She has been educationally
trained and taught in both the
U.S. and in Israel. Her secular
education; Brooklyn College,
B.A.; exchange program at
Hebrew University; master
credits at B.U. She received her
Jewish education at Marshiliya
H.S. and the Jewish Theological
Seminary.
From 1970 to date she has
been on the staff of ORT High
School in Natanya. Her work
has included both teaching and
developing curriculum for the
English department. From
1963-68 she was on the staff of
the Deer Hill School in
Cohasset, Massachusetts
teaching the fourth grade as
well as serving as reading con
sultant and coordinating a
program for under-achievers.
From 1961-62 she taught 2nd
grade at P.S. 63 in Brookljrn,
N.Y. During that period Mrs.
Ravivi was also principal of the
Hebrew School of Congregation
Beth Hillel in Jackson Heights,
N.Y.
Mr. Louis Albert has been
hired by the Federation as
Director of Social Services. Mr.
Albert’s primary respon
sibilities will be in the areas of
geriatric and vocational ser
vices. The office for Mr. Albert
will be located at the Jewish
Community Center. He will
begin work on August 1. The
September issue of the Jewish
News will publish an extensive
description of the kinds of social
services Mr. Albert will be
providing.
Mr. Albert has been employed
as a caseworker with the Jewish
Family Service of Worchester,
Mass. for the past 4 ‘4 years. In
that capacity he provided
counseling services to in
dividuals, couples and families
throughout the developmental
range from childhood to old age.
He received his Bachelor’s
degree in psychology from
Clark University and his MSW
(Master of Social Work) from the
State University of New York at
Buffalo. His wife, Susan, is a
librarian. The couple will be liv
ing at Pinehurst apartments.
With the hiring of Mr. Albert
the Social Service Committee of
the Federation compJetes a year
long search for a director for this
new program. The members of
the committee are; Pearl Kier,
Chairperson, Aaron Gleiber-
man, Stan Greenspon, Sally
Schrader and Judi Strause.
Louis Albert
It was in the Spring of 1979
that the Federation approved
the development of Social Ser
vices. 'Fhe two areas of service to
the elderly and service around
vocational problems were
selected as the key places to
begin the program. It was the
feeling of the Board that other
areas for counseling may
become needed, but these two
. were clear cut problem areas for
the commimity as a whole.
“We are delighted to have
found Mr. Albert,” said Mrs.
Kier. “We look forward to his
coming and to the opening of a
new chapter, a helping chapter,
in the life of our Jewish com
munity.”
Complex Update
Community Project Continues To Move Forward
“If it sometimes appears that
our efforts have stopped, it is
only because we are moving as a
community into totally un
chartered waters, and we have
to go slowly if we are going to go
correctly and permanently.”
These were the words of Harry
Lemer at a meeting held Tues
day, July 8 in the Executive Of
fices of Family Dollar Stores.
Present were leaders anxious to
hear about and contribute their
thoughts to the unique process
of the Community I^oject. The
result of the evening was a clear
affirmation that the idea has
passed the point of no return,
the project will go through with
the help, participation and
cooperation of the entire Jewish
community.
Mr. Lerner’s words were
clarified by a review of the
process to date. The concept of
the Community Project
originally dates to 1960, but its
coming to life dates to the Spr
ing of 1979. Far sighted
leadership perceived that each
of four major institutions was in
need of capital funding and the
potential of sizeable acreage on
Providence Road sparked the
Project.
Nowhere in the nation was
there a model to follow. Each
attempt at similar cooperative
effort in c^er communities had
failed. The failure had usually
been the result of one of the
organizations taking charge
and the others resenting it. For
tunately for Charlotte, a climate
of mutual trust already existed
after 9 months of regular
meetings between the
Presidents of the Temples,
Academy, JCC and Federation.
The focus of these meetings had
been the shared solving of
problems and concerns. It was
easy to shift the focus to the
positive planning for the Com
munity Project. Both the
Presidents’ Council, as this
group was called, and a group of
major givers agreed that the es
sence of the Project was equality
among the organizations. Thus
one of the chief stumbling
blocks experienced in other com
munities was overcome.
In the Spring of 1979 the
Federation was asked to provide
the funds to hire a social
planner to map out the process
to be followed. An outstar ding
individual was selected and
flown in from Miami. He spent a
day meeting with all those in
volved and then he spent a
month thinking through and
preparing his report. By the
time his report reached Char
lotte the Presidents’ Council
and the group of major givers
had already accomplished
(Continued on Page 5)