Answer the call
This past summer saw the simmering tensions between Israel and Gaza come to a full boil as Hamas launched a full-scale attack on Israel. The cost of the war was high: the tragic loss of Israeli and Palestinian lives, tens of thousands of Israelis forced to live in bomb shelters, the destruction of homes and businesses, the financial devastation, and the emotional turmoil that wreaked havoc on an entire nation. With the outbreak of Operation Protective Edge in July, the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ immediately sprang into action; $1.2 million was raised through the emergency mailbox it opened for the Israel Emergency Campaign.
The war was just another reminder of the Jewish people’s vulnerability. It also led to a demonstration of the fact that when there is a Jewish need, the Greater MetroWest community responds. Many people need no such reminders: elderly people managing on fixed incomes, families in crisis, families of children with special needs — all know the anxiety of uncertainty.
Year in and year out, the federation is there to assist those navigating life’s uncertainties and crises. Through the UJA Campaign, the federation supports local agencies that provide assistance to seniors and counseling to individuals and families. It assists parents struggling to provide a Jewish education and summer camp experience for their children. Federation and its agencies offer many ways for people of all ages to connect Jewishly. And it helps the vulnerable in Israel, through partnerships that support everything from bomb shelters on a front-line kibbutz, to empowerment programs for Ethiopian immigrants, to a small-business incubator in the developing Negev.
To celebrate this mission and support its many services, the federation has designated Dec. 7 as Super Sunday, the community’s largest single fund-raiser, where friends and neighbors come together — at the Aidekman campus in Whippany and the Wilf campus in Scotch Plains — to make calls and secure pledges, donate foods and toys for local needs, give blood, and enjoy family fun and mitzva activities. Vendors will offer quality Judaica and Hanukka gifts as well.
From 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., volunteers and supporters will gather to show their support and give back to their community. To assist them in their life-affirming work, answer the call on Super Sunday. To learn more, visit jfedgmw.org/supersunday or call 972-929-3010.
comments