When a woman with limited resources who is not Jewish gave Pella Fingersh an envelope with $150 to support Israel — money that the woman’s children helped earn for their family — it brought Fingersh to tears.
That’s one of several stories of kids in the Kansas City community doing something to help in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel. Others have held bake sales, sold lemonade or hot chocolate, or simply carried bags full of quarters to the Jewish Federation office.
Adults have done their part, too, giving checks of $500 to $25,000 — some from people who have never given a contribution of that size before.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City has now raised more than $3.5 million for Israel thanks to the generosity of more than 800 donors in the community and the tireless efforts of volunteer and professional fundraisers.
Leading the way on the volunteer side has been Fingersh, a past president of Jewish Federation, for whom this fundraising effort is extremely personal — she is Israeli, spent her childhood on a kibbutz, and has firsthand experience with terror attacks on her country.
Quietly, Fingersh has spent weeks on the phone, explaining the many needs in Israel to a wide variety of community members. Joining her have been two other past presidents of Jewish Federation, John Isenberg and Howard Jacobson; and current Federation board member Jerry Enslein, who, in his role on the financial resource development committee, has chaired a variety of emergency fundraising efforts.
In the days immediately following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel, the Jewish Federations of North America asked its 146 member Federations to each raise and contribute enough funds that the system as a whole would send $500 million to Israel. The funds would be used in response to considerable urgent needs, as well as many more medium- and long-term needs. The ask of Kansas City’s Federation was to raise $3.5 million, and earlier this month, Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City surpassed that total.
Doing so included obtaining an anonymous $1 million matching gift, several $100,000 and a couple of $200,000 contributions, and gifts at every level from $5 to more than $50,000.
“The incredible generosity of our community cannot be overstated,” said Jay Lewis, president and CEO of Jewish Federation. “I say ‘our community’ because, while of course the majority of this financial support came from Jews, plenty also came from friends of the community — whether those from other specific faith communities, like Church of the Resurrection, or just good neighbors, allies and caring people around Kansas City and beyond.”
With ongoing war and the long-term need to rebuild both physical infrastructure of kibbutzim as well as national economic infrastructure, Jewish Federation expects to continue to take in contributions for Israel well into 2024, even as it focuses on a strong closing of its unrestricted annual campaign in these last 10 days of the calendar year.
“We are fortunate that most donors contributing generously to Israel are giving more — on the whole — than they have in previous years,” said Jonathan Schwartzbard, director of transformational giving at Jewish Federation.
“I encourage anyone who is able to generously support the annual campaign, which provides the scaffolding and builds the relationships to be able to respond quickly and impactfully when this kind of emergency occurs,” said Annie Glickman, campaign director for Jewish Federation, who has worked closely with Fingersh and the other volunteers. “No gift touches more Jewish lives.”
Those wishing to make a contribution to the annual campaign, the Israel emergency campaign, or both, should visit jewishkansascity.org.