UP FRONT

B'nai B'rith Discloses
Additional Cutbacks

The nation's oldest Jewish communal
organization hopes to survive by streamlining its
operation.

JAMES D. BESSER

Om

Washington Correspondent

T

IP

l''

he budget ax has
fallen again at B'nai
B'rith International's
Rhode Island Avenue head-
quarters in Washington.
But early indications are
that the new cuts — neces-
sitated by a staggering ac-
cumulated budget deficit
and declining membership
— may not be as bad as some
had feared.
The organization's inter-
national board of governors
met last weekend in gruel-
ing sessions designed to
hammer out the outlines of a
new, streamlined B'nai
B'rith.
The meetings are normally
held in May, noted Kent
Schiner, B'nai B'rith's pres-
ident. "But we accelerated
the process because I wanted
to get the budget in hand

and start making the deci-
sion," he said.
B'nai B'rith faces an ac-
cumulated budget deficit of
at least $4 million, as well as
a membership that is
shrinking by as much as 9
percent annually.
A round of cutbacks last
year slashed some 35 jobs,
mostly from the group's

The "new B'nai
B'rith" will
emphasize its
youth programs,
its senior citizen
housing and
service programs.

Kent Schiner

Washington headquarters.
Last weekend's sessions
were preceded by weeks of
anxious anticipation on the
part of B'nai B'rith
employees, who feared fur-

ther serious reductions
would be announced.
Instead, Mr. Schiner said,
only about seven lower-level
positions will be eliminated
— none in the Washington
office.
Mr. Schiner strove to put a
favorable spin on the
weekend's developments.
"The game plan that we had
has come to fruition," he
said. "We finished our
budget, which was our prime
concern. We began working
out new directions for the
organization. We began the
process of narrowing our
focus."
B'nai B'rith, he said, will
no longer be a "department
store" kind of organization.
Instead, the group will focus
on its traditional strengths.
The "new B'nai B'rith"
will emphasize its youth
programs, its senior citizen
housing and service pro-
grams and its political ac-

Any.. lawn dr Les Angoles Tows bv Adurd Vibiard. Corm., 1992.11can61.... Oatnbunel try Los Arpin Tines Svdo.e.

tion network, he said.
A Schiner proposal that
the group also focus on
"family issues" is still being
debated.
The group's overall annual
budget will shrink from
$14.5 million to $12.7 mill-
ion.
More cutbacks may also be
in store.
"We may need to ratchet
down once more," Mr.

Schiner said. "But we won't
do anything else until next
year. Then we should be
where we need to be. We've
been through a very painful
process — but I think there's
a feeling now that we're
beginning to seriously deal
with our problems."
B'nai B'rith has also con-
stricted in another way — it
is dropping "International"
from its name. ❑

would have been destroyed
by freezing). The mother
conceived during the first
cycle of treatment.

Forest Recalls
Jews Of Poland
In honor of Purim,
celebrated Thursday, the
Jewish National Fund and
the Federation of Polish
Jews of the United States
have. issued an appeal on
behalf of the Polish Jewry
Memorial Forest.
"We recently celebrated
Purim to commemorate the
miraculous triumph of the
Jews of Persia over the
wicked Haman thousands of
years ago," a JNF spokes-
man said. "It is appropriate
to remember and
memorialize those Jews who
perished at the hands of a
modern-day descendant of
Haman."
The groups' goal is to plant
3 million trees in memory of
the 3 million Polish Jews
who died in the Holocaust.
For 1,000 years and until
World War II, Polish Jews
constituted the largest Jew-
ish community in the world.
To contribute to the Polish
Jewry Memorial Forest, con-
tact the JNF in Southfield,
557-6644.
Compiled by
Elizabeth Applebaum

ROUND UP

Of Top Cops
And Mezuzot
If you're one of those in-
tellectual snobs who spends
his evenings reading Proust
instead of watching TV, you
no doubt missed a momen-
tous occasion last week.
"Top Cops" included a
segment about Detroit police
on the trail of two drug-
dealing brothers.
At one point, the police
enter the brothers' "home" —
supposedly in Southfield,
in fact shot in Los Angeles.
There, on the inside of the
door, was a mezuzah.
Next week: "Rescue 911"
saves two drowning gefilte
fish.

Group Makes
Its Point Of Light
President George Bush
last week recognized the
volunteers of the Desert
Chapter of the Brandeis
University National Wo-
men's Committee of Palm
Springs, Calif., as the 717th
Daily Point of Light for the
nation.
The group includes some
200 male and female vol-
unteers, ranging in age from

55 to 72, who each week
tutor children in math at
local elementary schools.
The tutor works one-on-one
with a child, focusing on spe-
cially selected reading
assignments and subjects in-
cluding phonetics,
vocabulary building, oral
reading, skill lessons and
computer programs. Accor-
ding to the most recent test
results, participating
students improved their
reading levels from 36 to 78
percent as a result of the
program.
The president recognizes a
Daily Point of Light six days
a week. The "points" are
those who successfully ad-
dress social problems
through direct and conse-
quential acts of community
service.

Three's Company
At Shaare Zedek
They arrived a few weeks
too soon, but the triplets
born at the new in-vitro fer-
tilization (IVF) unit of
Shaare Zedek Medical
Center in Jerusalem caused
great rejoicing.
The two boys and a girl

Shaare Zedek's lucky three.

were the second set of
triplets born at the IVF unit,
and the first children of a
couple who have been mar-
ried for six years.
The couple's problem in-
volved male infertility, for
which conventional IVF
treatments do not work. Do-
nor sperm was not an option
as Shaare Zedek operates
strictly according to
Halachah.
The unit collected many
samples of the husband's
sperm over one week,
preserving them at room
temperature. (The sperm

Mazon Announces
New Grants
Mazon: A Jewish Response
to Hunger recently an-
nounced grants of $652,000
for the first half of 1992 to 86
agencies — including three
in Michigan — involved in
helping the hungry and
homeless.
Local recipients are:
• Forgotten Harvest,
which collects and delivers
donated food to charitable
feeding programs, will
receive $10,000 to hire a co-
ordinator.
• The Pontiac Area
Lighthouse, providing food,
clothing, shelter and
tr9.ncportation to the poor,
will receive $4,000 to buy a
used van to pick up food do-
nations.
• The Ypsilanti SOS
Community Crisis Center,
which provides shelter,
counseling, advocacy and re-
ferral services to low-income
residents of Washtenaw
County, will receive $8,000.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

11

