From the Director's Chair
I hope that you
enjoy this first of
our new quarterly
newsletters. Plac-
ing it in the Jewish
News provides
us with a venue
and circulation
Stephen M. Goldman
befitting our new
look — reaching out, communicating
openly about the programs, exhibits,
educational products and special
events that will define a new era in the
life of the Holocaust Memorial Center
Zekelman Family Campus.
As we enter our second quarter-
century, the Center has undertaken a
massive effort to reach new heights,
always keeping our Mission in sight,
but striving toward a new future.
There is a renewed excitement
throughout the Center. We are
providing higher levels of visitor
service, bringing new constituencies
to the Core Exhibit, and renewing
the interest of our previous visitors,
members, survivors, and past support-
ers through temporary exhibits like
The Auschwitz Album, which opened
with a special members' event on the
sixty-fifth anniversary of the liberation
of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Each new exhibit will provide a
perspective on the Holocaust and
Jewish history. Survivor artists,
Israeli artists, historical exhibitions and
photography, sculpture, music and
the performing arts will illuminate the
themes ever-present in Jewish life.
There will always be a reason
to return to the Holocaust Memo-
rial Center: let us take you from a
transport coming to Auschwitz in
The Auschwitz Album, to the almost
surreal art of Samuel Bak, whose first
exhibition was in the Lodz Ghetto
when he was a child and all of whose
work is colored by his life in the ghetto
and survival, and to who-knows-
where. Exhibits will come to us from
the Smithsonian Institution, the
U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum,
the Jewish Museum of Vienna, Yad
Vashem, and from around the world.
Join with us as we reinvent the
idea of a Holocaust Center. Become a
member or renew your membership,
sponsor an exhibit or program, use the
library, volunteer, or just come and
visit. Let us know how you like our
newsletter. Come and learn, come and
see the hundreds of school children
who come to the Center each day,
rejoice in the message of hope that
YOUR Holocaust Memorial Center
sends to its visitors.
Come on in and catch the
excitement.
School Collects Pennies, Raises Awareness
Charitable Alternatives for Donors
Cristy Berger still remembers corn-
is a difficult one to grasp. But their
ing to the Holocaust Center with her
Survivor's story and this display led the
school 20 years ago. When she began
students to conceive of a "6 Million
teaching at her alma mater, she was
Penny Drive," in which they would
happy to see that the trip had become
share their knowledge and ask neigh-
an annual tradi-
bors to donate their
tion for 8th grade
pennies as a way of
Language Arts
helping to under-
students at this
stand just how many
Madison Heights
men, women, and
middle school.
children actually
Now coordi-
perished during this
nator of the trip,
horrific period.
Wilkinson students (far left and right) Vosta Zaia
Cristy sees the
Cristy feels
and Larsa Murad initiated the Penny Project in
2009. They are joined by teacher, Cristy Berger
HMC not only
that the Holocaust
and Executive Director Stephen M. Goldman.
as a place for
Center helps stu-
students to gain valuable knowledge of dents see beyond their own surround-
a historical event, but also a venue for ings and begin to learn and care about
truly understanding the terror inflict-
others. "No matter how many times
ed on the Jewish people.
you visit, you always leave with a new
Last year, Cristy realized that
experience. This is why I will continue
her students learned something else:
to bring my students every year." As
During a post-tour discussion, the
of their most recent visit in January,
students kept talking about the "paper
Wilkinson School students had col-
clip" display. The number 6,000,000
lected 125,000 pennies.
By Norman Pappas
Many donors aren't aware of how
many options there are for planned
charitable giving that can provide
mutual benefits for the donor and the
charity. Let's look at some of them:
A gift of stock or real estate can
provide a tax deduction to the donor
(up to 30% of their adjusted gross in-
come) and an avoidance of the capital
gains tax. For example, a stock buyout
for $10,000 that grows to $30,000
would have a capital gains tax of
$3,000 (15% x $20,000 gain). If the
stock were donated to the Holocaust
Center, the donor would receive a tax
savings of $12,000 ($30,000 x 40%
Federal & State tax) and would avoid
the capital gains tax of $3,000. This
also applies to real estate and other
assets, so long as they are held for a
minimum of one year. Alternatively,
the donor can make a gift of the stock
in cash and create an income stream
for their lifetime through a Gift
Annuity or a Charitable Remainder
Trust. The yield will depend on the
age of the donor. A third option is
that the donor can make a gift of stock
or cash and have the income go to the
Holocaust Center for a period of years
and then revert the principal back to
the donor.
There are several other lesser-
known methods of charitable giving.
For example, people over 70 1/2 can
leave up to $100,000 of an IRA (for
2009 and 2010) to the Holocaust
Center. Some life insurance policies
can be created to avoid taxable gains,
while replacing the donor's annual gift
or creating a permanent endowment.
As Winston Churchill said, "We
create a meaningful life by what we
give, not what we get."
For more information about planned
giving, contact David Moss
at 248.553.2400, ext. 23, or
clavid.moss@holocaustcenter.org
Why give to the Holocaust Memorial Center?
The answer is
within these walls,
and all around
you.
Before
deciding to work
here, I asked
myself whether
David M. Moss
I'd give to the
Holocaust Center. One of the first
rules in fundraising is that you make
your own gift before asking others to
do so.
Why do I give?
I give in memory of those who
perished in this most horrible of
atrocities.
2
HOLOCAUST M EMORIAL OMER
ZHCELMAN NACU cAleus
Winter 2010
I give in recognition of those lucky
enough to escape via the
Kindertransport or through the
altruistic acts of a righteous person
who risked his or her own life to save
the life of a Jewish stranger.
I give as a tribute to those who
endured subhuman conditions
and unimaginable acts in the Nazi
concentration camps, but somehow
survived to taste freedom once again.
Why should you give?
Give because it feels good. Or give
until it feels good!
Give because by doing so, you
are standing up against antisemitism,
bigotry and intolerance.
Give because each donation, no
matter how big or how small, is used
by our Holocaust Center for the
purpose of engaging and educating a
new generation of youth. These are
the people we must count on to tell
the story once there are no more living
witnesses.
We need your support!
The Holocaust Center does not
charge for admission. We feel that
nobody should be turned away from
the opportunity to learn about the
Holocaust. We don't receive allocations
from the State of Michigan, or from
the Jewish Federation. To keep our
doors open, we rely on the kindness
and commitment of the community
--people like you who believe that
we should all support this shining
monument to the memory of
Holocaust victims.
We do seek out grant dollars from
corporations and foundations. When
applying, it makes our case that much
stronger when we can say that our
community, Jews and non Jews alike,
support our Holocaust Center.
What I will leave you with is
Tikkun Olam. By giving to the
Holocaust Center -- and that gift could
be in the form of money, time, or
professional expertise, you create hope
for future generations. You ensure that
the world will not forget. You see to it
that this kind of tragedy never happens
again. You help repair the world.