Tagged JFSA

Federations create hurricane relief fund

Rescue workers and volunteers help residents make their way out of a flooded neighborhood in Houston following Hurricane Harvey, Aug. 29, 2017. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is joining with the Jewish Federations of North America to help the victims of Hurricane Irma, which battered the Caribbean and the eastern United States earlier this month. At least 42 people in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina have died as a result… Read more »

Business briefs 5.26.17

TUCSON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA has named KIMBERLY D. ELY as vice president of development. Before joining TSO in 2015 as director of charitable giving, she spent 20 years in Nashville, Tenn., where she served as vice president of development for Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art, director of development… Read more »

JCRC immigration forum highlights city’s citizenship campaign

Immigration lawyer Alan Bennett speaks at the Tucson Jewish Community Center April 28. (Simon Rosenblatt)

The immigration crisis in Southern Arizona was the topic of a breakfast forum organized by the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona on Friday, April 28. Opening the meeting, which was held at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, JCRC Chair Richard White explained that… Read more »

Local bike drive, volunteer training aim to aid refugees

The Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona has launched “Bikes Without Borders” to distribute bicycles to newly arrived refugees through local refugee resettlement agencies. “Bikes Without Borders” is seeking donations of new or used adult and child-sized bicycles and helmets, locks, lights and other… Read more »

Business briefs 4.28.17

THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA has hired MELISSA HALL as office and facilities manager. She will transition from her current position as executive assistant at the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona, where she has worked for the past 16 years, and will support both JFSA and JCF… Read more »

Business briefs 1.6.17

PLUM WINDOWS AND DOORS, owned by DESIREE WILLIAMS, in collaboration with HABITAT FOR HUMANITY, recently presented full replacement windows and a new patio door to Irma Bush, a longstanding Habitat for Humanity volunteer and beneficiary. Habitat for Humanity Tucson, in addition to building new homes for those who qualify,… Read more »

JFSA ready to get its game on for Super Sunday fundraiser

Shelly Silverman, chair of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona 2016 Community Campaign, left, with Super Sunday co-chairs Nina Isaacs and Julie Feldman at the Tucson Jewish Community Center on Jan. 31, 2016 (Martha Lochert)

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will hold its Super Sunday phone-a-thon on Jan. 29 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. During the annual fundraising event, volunteers will reach out to members of the Jewish community for donations to the Federation’s 2017 Community Campaign, which supports humanitarian and educational… Read more »

Weaving community: How the JFSA works

Stuart Mellan

“Weaving … is the essential art of creating the unified out of two opposites. If the meeting of opposites does not take place, nothing is created, for each element is defined by its opposite and takes its meaning from it.” — Dario Valcarenghi as quoted in “The Art of… Read more »

JFSA women eager to help homeless shelter

Jean Fedigan, executive director of the Sister Jose Women’s Center (left) and Lean Avuno, a Tucson shinshinim volunteer from Israel, spoke at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy annual welcome Sept. 28.

When we work together, when we reach out to the least among us, we improve the lives of others while enriching our own lives and our community, Jean Fedigan, executive director of the Sister Jose Women’s Center, told about 90 people attending the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s… Read more »

Jewish Federation, Foundation to share building on Jewish community campus

The lobby of the new Jewish Federation/Foundation building will evoke the welcoming spirit of the tent of the biblical Abraham and Sarah. (Courtesy CDG Architects)

After decades of putting the needs of other Jewish community agencies first, the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is ready to break ground on a new home of its own. The new 18,000 square foot building, which will house the Federation and the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona,… Read more »

Mitzvahs for kids, adults to be part of JFSA Super Sunday

Eliot Barron, a volunteer, makes a call at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Super Extraordinary Sunday on Jan. 25, 2015.

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona will hold its Super Extraordinary Sunday fundraiser and Mitzvah Day on Sunday, Jan. 31, 8:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m., at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. The event will include a phone-a-thon with volunteers seeking donations to the Federation’s 2016 Community Campaign to support humanitarian and… Read more »

JFSA Campaign returns to pre-recession goal of $4 million

Shelly Silverman

The 2016 Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Community Campaign is now underway. “Do More Than Before, Give With Your Heart” is the theme of this year’s effort, which seeks to connect personally with community members about the future of Jewish social and educational services in Tucson and beyond. The… Read more »

JFSA facilitates gift for Syrian refugee aid

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona recently received a $25,000 gift from a donor advised fund at the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona, which it forwarded to the Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief to aid the swelling population of migrants and Syrian refugees in Europe and the Middle… Read more »

Jewish Community Foundation grants more than $360K to aid programs in Tucson, Israel

Therapist Zehava Baruch counsels Ethiopian immigrants Fanta (left) and Weinishe at the welfare department in Kiryat Malachi, Israel. A 2015 grant from the Jewish Community Foundation and Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona to the Kiryat Malachi welfare department will focus on preventing Ethiopian family violence. (AJP file photo)

The Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona recently awarded 24 grants totaling $369,817 through its community grants program. These grants are made in three impact areas: Tucson Jewish community, Israel and global Jewry, and Tucson general community. The local Jewish and Israel grants are administered in alignment with the… Read more »

Katz brings marathon runner’s energy to Federation as new senior vp

Fran Katz

For longtime community volunteer Fran Katz, working at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is “like coming home.” “This is where I want to be. I’ve been so passionate about Federation for almost 30 years — since Jeff and I got here, we have been volunteering,” says Katz, who… Read more »

A transformed Berlin beckons to Jewish Federation representatives

Stuart Mellan, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, at the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin on Feb. 19. “The photo,” he says, “does not even begin to capture the power of walking through and finding the pillars dwarfing you as they grow to 15 feet in the center of the installation.”

I sat between Grandmother and Aunt Etta. I never had a chance. Grandmother would point to her forearm, the numbers tattooed there … and that’s how I learned to count.   I sat between Grandmother and Aunt Etta. Between spoonfuls of regret they fed me: “From this you shouldn’t… Read more »

JFSA ‘Together’ speaker to highlight Jews’ global peoplehood

Avraham Infeld

“Together: A Community Event” is an appropriate title for Avraham Infeld’s presentation next month at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s free event. Infeld, president emeritus of Hillel International, will focus on “connecting the Jewish people in Israel to the Jewish people in America” in his talk on Tuesday,… Read more »

Federation Super Extraordinary Sunday is on its way

The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is getting ready for its annual Campaign Super Sunday phone-a-thon and Mitzvah Day on Sunday, Jan. 25, at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. From 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., volunteers can make calls soliciting tax-deductible gifts to the Federation that support Jewish life… Read more »