“When Doris and Bill Rubin thought about what their legacy would be, they realized that they wanted to help those in need move towards self-sufficiency,” says Jewish Community Foundation Executive Director Carol Karsch. Since 2003, the Rubins’ vision has resulted in 76 grants totaling $788,870 through their endowment fund at the Foundation.
Those ideals are embodied in the 12 programs that were awarded $131,600 in 2010. Local grantees are Jewish Family & Children’s Services (Project Safe Place financial and career literacy), Youth On Their Own (monthly stipends), Our Family Services (homeless youth services and senior companions), Bootstraps to Share dba BICAS (community tools), Interfaith Community Services (emergency work assistance), and Touch Point Connection (preparing at-risk teens for goal-oriented coaching).
Melitz’s Ethiopian school readiness project was one of five programs in Israel to receive funding this year. This program helps Ethiopian students overcome some of the barriers to integration into Israeli society by helping them succeed in school. Other grantees include Leket Israel’s nighttime food collection project, and three programs funded through the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona: the Tafnit dropout prevention program, an Ethiopian family violence prevention program and the Acharai
pre-army program for underprivileged youth.
The Rubin Fund played a pivotal role in the Foundation’s grantmaking this year, providing at least part of the funds for 11 of the 12 grants awarded, in combination with the Zuckerman Endowment Fund, Dr. Samuel and Sylvia Zaidenberg Endowment Fund, Kahn Family Legacy Fund, Marilyn Haas Community Youth Fund, Ida and Patricia Brodsky Memorial Endowment Fund, and Sidney and Tauba Kaderlan Endowment Fund. All of these endowments were established by donors for distribution through the Foundation’s grant proposals deliberations committee.
For more information, contact Karsch at 577-0388 or promise@jcftucson.org.
