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Going National

Thirteen campuses try out
U-M's half-shekel strategy.

JULIE WIENER

Staff Writer

L

ast year, the Half-Shekel
Campaign quadrupled
University of Michigan stu-
dent participation in the
United Jewish Appeal fundraiser.
A This year, national Hillel and UJA
leaders are hoping it will have the
same impact on other campuses
around the nation.
The brainchild of Michael Brooks,
U-M Hillel's executive director, the
campaign aims to enlist full participa-
tion of all Jews on campus.
Taking its name from the ancient
tradition in which all Jews gave a half-
hekel to support the Temple of
Terusalem, the drive seeks to build
community, while educating students
about the UJA's work.
Using the motto "because everyone
counts," the Half-Shekel Campaign
stresses involvement over fundraising,
encouraging students —through per-
sonal meetings rather than phone calls
— to give as little as a dollar.
Ironically, by soliciting smaller gifts,
U-M students raised twice as much
money last year than in previous UJA
campus fundraisers.
Last week at the UJA national stu-
dent leadership conference, U-M stu
dents introduced the campaign philos-
ophy to 80 students from 13 universi-
ties, including Ohio State, University
of Pennsylvania, University of Texas
4.nd Northwestern University.
"We ran all kinds of exercises to
teach them about changing the Jewish
culture of their school," said U-M
senior Stefan Maher, student coordi-
nator of the national campaign. In
addition to leading the training ses-
sion, U-M students developed a hand-
book for students on other campuses
and are working closely with national
Ville' staff members to develop a sup-
port network linking all the cam-
paigns.
Rhoda Weisman, director of Hillel's
Center for Jewish Engagement, is
helping to coordinate the endeavor on
a national level and says the lessons
learned on the 13 campuses will help
develop a national strategy for all uni-

versities.
"It's a brilliant campaign,"
Weisman said. "What I'm excited
about is we're going to be able to test
this kind of campaign with students
really taking ownership at different
campuses and do some major experi-
menting to see how this can change
public Jewish culture in different
places around the country." .
OSU Hillel's assistant director
Gregory Steinberger, is excited to see
how the new strategy works at OSU.
"Half-Shekel has great potential for
impacting, and it sounds like it will
create much more excitement than the
traditional model of UJA campaigns,"
he said.
Although U-M students are provid-
ing support for other campuses, they

r . '

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Half-Shekel Campaign steering commit-
tee members Roy Ellis, center, and Stacey
Gish, right, explain the campaign to
junior Mandy Sacher.

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are. also working to refine the one-
year-old campaign on their own cam-
pus. Last year, 1,000 students partici-
pated; and Maher is hoping this year
— with a longer campaign, more pub-
licity and auxiliary social and volun-
teer activities — all 6,000 Jewish stu-
dents will get involved. Funds raised
at U-M will go to the Jewish
Federation of Washtenaw County.

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11/14
1997

