Metro

Emergency Funds

Jewish Fund approves grants of
$661,000 to meet special needs.

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July 2 2009

1 ∎$6236.0

iting the economic woes of
the metropolitan area, the
Jewish Fund has approved
$661,000 in emergency grants to
meet the "urgent, special and unmet
needs" of the Jewish community in
Metro Detroit.
The Jewish Fund, established to
respond to the health and social
welfare needs of the Jewish and
general community needs of Metro
Detroit in 1997 after the sale of Sinai
Hospital of Detroit, approved the
grants during a May meeting.
Based on that approval, the Jewish
Fund made a $600,000 grant to the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit, requesting that it prioritize
the most pressing community needs.
Its planning department has since
allocated the funding to the follow-
ing programs:
• $290,000 to Jewish Family
Service's Project Chesed to maintain
the current Jewish Fund grant level;
• $52,000 to JFS to retain an
intake worker;
• $160,000 to JFS towards three
additional fam-
ily case managers
at JFS, with the
caveat that JFS
find the funding to
hire a fourth case
manager to bring
the caseloads to a
more manageable
size;
• $65,000 to JVS
in Southfield to
hire an additional
employment spe-
cialist;
• $33,000 to
meet the shortfall in older adult ser-
vices funding at the Foundation for
Our Jewish Elderly.
Yad Ezra, the
kosher food bank
in Berkley, will
receive a $61,000
grant for its grocery
program. Although
Yad Ezra is not a
Federation agency,
Michael
"they are feeding
Maddin
our poor:' said

Michael Maddin,
Jewish Fund chair.
"The numbers are
just staggering and
keep going up, but
their resources con-
tinue to decline."
Once the urgent
Margo Pernick
needs were real-
ized during the
economic meltdown across the
country in the fall of 2008, an ad
hoc committee of the Jewish Fund's
Grants Committee
reviewed the
community's urgent
needs and deter-
mined what the
proper response,
if any, would be
developed, said
Penny
Margo Pernick,
Blumenstein
Jewish Fund execu-
tive director.
Pernick cited Maddin, Mervin
Manning, Urgent Special Unmet
Needs Subcommittee chair,
and Penny Blumenstein, Grant
Committee chair, as
being instrumental
in making the special
allocation available.
Maddin said, "We
were certainly aware
of the fact that there
were going to be some
excruciating needs,
but we weren't sure
where they would
come from."
A similar $500,000
-Margo Pernick emergency allocation
was made on behalf of
four Federation agen-
cies in 2004 for financial assistance,
career development, eldercare and
medical services to families in need.
Each grantee will supply the
Jewish Fund with progress reports
every six months and a final report,
"just like any other grant."
Pernick said. "We are proud to
have been able to make this special
one-time emergency grant, even
though the Fund's resources have
been severely impacted by the econ-
omy" II

We are proud to
have been able to
make this special
one-time emer-
gency grant."