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Celebrating 50 years of growth with the Detroit Jewish Community

APRIL 10, 1992 / 7 NISAN 5752

SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS

CLOSE-UP

Six 'Days Of Decision'
Will Change Campaign

PHIL JACOBS

Managing Editor

I

In The
Spirit Of
Reform

The Reform movement
in Detroit is growing
with worshipers
who see in it a chance
for deep spirituality.

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n years past, Detroit's
Federation would close
the annual Allied Jewish
Campaign in early spring,
and then turn around and
start a new Campaign for
the next year.
Although the 1991 Cam-
paign officially ended in
May, solicitation continued
into December and
overlapped efforts for 1992.
In addition, Federation
never really knew how much
money to budget because it
was not sure how much
would come in after its offi-
cial Campaign closing. Last
year, the Campaign fell
about $1 million short of its
predicted final achievement,
at a time when Federation
asked its agencies to
prioritize budgets and to be
more fiscally attentive.
To end the budgeting and
Campaign overlap problems,
the Federation has created
Days of Decision, a six-day
period from May 31 to June
5 that will change the way
the Federation closes its
Campaign. During this time,
Federation will ask consti-
tuent agencies to limit any
board or lay activity so they
can participate in a massive,
intensive pledge and fund-
raising effort.
The goal is straightfor-
ward. Federation wants to
know by June 5 exactly how
much money it will have by
the end of the year so that it
can more accurately
allocate. In years past, some
$2 to $4 million in late
pledges come in through
December.
Campaign Director Allan
Gelfond said thousands of
givers wait until late in the
year to make their pledge.
"What it did in the past
was put us in a situation to
estimate what we had corn-
ing, in," said Mr. Gelfond.
"Last year we were off and
that created a lot of uncer-
tainty. But what this did to
us, even before this dramatic
recession surfaced, was in-
crease the uncertainty of our
budgeting process. We
learned that it was time to
close the Campaign and then
allocate."
The Federation, therefore,

will allocate only the money
it raises prior to the alloca-
tions process. The challenge
facing the Federation is get-
ting the message out that it
is changing its cycle.
"The old system was a
faulty system, and we recog-
nized it, and we're correcting
it," said Mr. Gelfond.
Federation also is behind

"The old system
was a faulty
system and we
recognized it, and
we're correcting
it."

Allan Gelfond

this year in pledges. Last
year by this time, about
14,900 pledges had been
recorded. This year, the
number is 12,300. The Cam-
paign raised $23.8 million
by this time last year. This

year, with smaller numbers,
the Campaign stands at
$22.1 million.
Days of Decision will in-
volve professional staff and
lay volunteers throughout
the Jewish community. Fed-
eration has already met with
pulpit rabbis and synagogue
presidents to involve them.
Also, board members and
volunteers will be asked to
contribute effort and time
over the six-day period.
Agencies also are being ask-
ed to lend staffers for the
effort.
"This is all about urgen-
cy," said Mr. Gelfond. "It's
not going to get done by
itself. This is a chance to
make a difference. There are
people who always ask us
what they can do. Well, this
they can do. We need them.
It's a mobilization effort
pure and simple to close the
Campaign in an accurate
way."

❑

P'TACH Facing
Financial Ruin

AMY J. MEHLER

Staff Writer

B

racha and Michael
Hochheiser believe
P'TACH helped save
their two learning-disabled
children. Now they're ask-
ing the Detroit Jewish com-
munity to help save
P'TACH.
The Detroit arm of Parents
For Torah For All Children,
a national organization es-
tablished 15 years ago for
Jewish learning-disabled
children, is on the verge of
bankruptcy.
If $50,000 isn't raised in
the next few weeks, P'TACH
will shut down and 26 boys
and girls will stop receiving
Hebrew and English
remedial help.
P'TACH, which started in
Detroit 13 years ago, needs
to raise the remaining
$30,000 for its $100,000 an-
nual budget if it is to com-
plete its fiscal year. P'TACH
also owes $10,000 in per-
sonal loans as well as
$10,000 in taxes to the
Internal Revenue Service,

which has a lien on its ac-
count.
"We are $20,000 in the
hole and if emergency fund-
raising efforts fail, I don't
see how we can close the
school year," said Mr.
Hochheiser, P'TACH chair-
man. "We'll have to go
bankrupt."
An emergency parlor
meeting is set for May 17.
The location has not yet
been determined.
P'TACH mothers like Bat-
sheva Greenbaum of
Southfield and Bayla Land-
sman of Oak Park say their
children can't afford to be
without P'TACH.
"P'TACH literally saved
my child's life," said Mrs.
Landsman, a special edu-
cation teacher at the Agency
for Jewish Education. "My
child finally found a place in
which to feel confident and
motivated, a place where
teachers work from a goal
and success orientation."
P'TACH, which was given
resource rooms rent-free at
the Yeshiva Beth Yehudah

Continued on Page 28