P»0«2-THE NEWS^Miiy/im Spotlighting Federation Guest Editorial Transportation For Elderly When I came to Charlotte almost three, years ago, people told me that transportation was the biggest problem facing the elderly. After countless hours of discussion and planning, a tentative solu tion was worked out. There was only one problem with it — the elderly did not see the problem in the same way nor were they interested in making use of available van time when it was offered. For lack of interest, the project died. What makes this such a shame is that we are now getting requests for transportation which we are incapable of handling. Many times volunteers can help out, but how often can we ask the same people to drive especially on the short notice required for funeral services and other situations. Although it’s always preferable to ride with a volunteer in his or her car, we would be in big, big trouble if those same volunteers could no longer drive. An effective transportation service needs time to get started. The community must be willing to allow time for acceptance by the elderly of such a ser vice, but the elderly must also be willing to make use of it when it’s provided. When you call and we are unable to provide a ride for you, it isn’t because we don’t understand the problem, it’s because we have no van. Hopeful ly in the future this can be changed with the strong support of our elderly population. —L. Louis Albert, ACSW Director of Social Services Charlotte Jewish Federation By Richard A. Klein ‘ What does your Federa tion Executive Director do? When you support the Federation, the great percen tage of your money goes directly to Israel and local charities and services. But some also goes toward paid professionals: An executive director, secretary, book keeper and a social services- director. Except for the lat ter, the Federation has been sharing this staff with the Foundation. Our community expects a lot from its part-time ex ecutive director. In the past year alone five new commit tees have been created within the Federation, and the director is usually ex pected to help guide each and attend most, if not all of their meetings. The director is asked to give primary attention to the Federation’s fundraising campaign. Little else can succeed without a successful annual drive because so many agencies depend on it. No month, week or day passes without the director giving some attention to a present, past or future cam paign. Thus the director pays close attention to activities of national United Jewish New ADL Regional Director Appointed Ira Gissen has been ap pointed as the new director of the North Carolina and Virginia Region of the Anti- Defamation League of' B’nai B’rith. A recognized, published authority on human rights programs, Mr. Gissen joined ADL’s na tional staff in 1972 as assis tant director of the National Discriminations Depart ment, and became its direc tor the following year. Mr. Gissen began his career in 1953 as assistant director of Mayor’s Commis sion on Group Relations in Newark, New Jersey. Two years later, he joined the Community Affairs Depart ment of the American Jewish Committee as assistant director for Chicago and Milwaukee. Over the next eight years, he was promoted to AJC’s area director for Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Louisville and then became director of education for the New York metropolitan area. In 1963, Mr. Gissen joined the federal government’s civil rights program. Three years later, he was placed in charge of the New York-New Jersey Equal Opportunity Office of the U.S. Depart ment of Defense. During the period im mediately following the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he was on special assignment with the Justice Depart ment’s Community Rela tions Service. He then joined the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as Director of Equal Opportuni ty for New England, New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Three years later, he was promoted to special assis tant for community relations for the region. Mr. Gissen holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas and a Master’s degree from the Center for Human Relations THE CHARLOTTE lEWISH NEWS Published monthly by: Jewish Community Center Harold Cohen. Director Charlotte Jewish Federation Foundation of Charlotte Jewish Community Marvin Bienstock, Director Charlotte Hebrew Academy Eleanor Weinglass, Director Editors Ann Langman & Rita Mond Cartoonist Monroe Katz Copy desdline the 6th of each month P.O. Box 220188. Charlotte. N C. 28222 The appemraacm of advtrtiniag ia The Nwws doM not eooBtttute a kmahrutb donentent. Studies at New York Univer sity’s School of Education. He did graduate work at Nor thwestern University and Rutgers University and doc toral work at N.Y.C. Mr. Gissen has appeared as an expert witness before committees of the United States Congress, federal regulatory agencies and federal court; and has represented ADL in meetings with members of the President’s Cabinet. He has written widely on com munity relations, minority groups and public education; he has conducted seminars on equal opportunity for top corporate executives, and has lectured at many univer sities. He served as an elected trustee and President of the Board of Education in Teaneck, New Jersey. He also was National Chairman of the Professional Staff Association of ADL. In addi tion, he has been a Vice- President of the National Association of Jewish Com munity Relations Workers. He also is on the Board of Directors of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Ramapo College, New Jersey. Mr. Gissen and his wife, Linda, have three children. JOG CLOSINGS May 17 - Closes 5 p.m. May 18 - Closed May 19 - Opens 7 p.m. aiL Of' r/4£/^ Appeal efforts and cam paigns in other communities. He creates his own ideas to raise the goals. In Charlotte’s 1983 efforts, we had our third annual Super Sunday — a one-day marathon contacting the community by phone. We started our fly-ins, bringing regional, national and inter national figures to Charlotte to help in the solicitation process. The executive direc tor was largely responsible for the logistics of both ef forts. The creation of a campaign team, starting with the chairpersons of the general campaign and major gifts, takes many long hours of preparation and planning. The director provides regular input and support to give the lay solicitors the tools they must have to make the campaign move along business-like. While the director himself may take pledge cards, with well over 1000 solicitations to be made, recorded and bill ed, his time is best spent overseeing the lay team and the process. The director is also ex pected to be an informed, well-prepared voice for the Jewish community. He is in regular communication behind-the-scenes and before the public in the newspapers, on radio and television. He advises and im plements programs and plans for committees involv ing cash collections, budget and finance, allocations, long range planning, pubHc relations, special events, missions to Israel and com munity relations. Our executive director is asked to provide regular con sultation to the social ser vices director we employ, the social services committee, our women’s campaign divi sion and Jewish singles. The director is the Federa tion’s primary link to the general community, in cluding the presidents of ma jor Jewish organizations, our rabbis and educators, local Jewish groups and non- Jewish organizations—such as United Way, UNCC, chur ches and NCCJ. The Federation Executive Director is expected to keep regular office hours at the JCC. But he is also “on call” for periodic breakfast meetings, dinner meetings, evening board and commit tee meetings, out-of-town conventions, weekend retreats, temple functions, and weekend campaign func tions, such as Super Sunday. With the expansion of the Federation campaign, mov ing from $500,000 toward $1 million, and with the broadening Federation scope into the community, the Federation Executive Direc tor literally belongs to all of us. In addition to support to the community, he is asked to supervise the staff— making sure letters, brochures, flyers and statements are mailed. Charlotte has come a long way with its executive direc tor and that person’s job description. Within recent memory, we had, none of the above-mentioned commit tees and a single office worker who served as the Federation secretary/book keeper. But we were a smaller community, with fewer needs and a much smaller campaign. For information on how you can become more active in Federation activities, please call our Federation Executive Director, Marvin Bienstock, at 366-0368—or me at 542-1403 or 847-3547. The Jewish Calendar CANDLELIGHTING May 1-LagB’omer May 6-8:13 p.m. May 13 - 8:19 p.m. May 17 - 8:22 p.m. (Erev Shavuoth) May 18 - 8:23 p.m. (Shavuoth) May 20 - 8:24 p.m. May 27 - 8:29 p.m.