November 13, 2006

(San Francisco) – Once a year, just for a day, 1,000 Bay Area volunteers come together to build a community based on compassion and justice. In just 12 hours on Sunday, November 19, from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., 10,000 current and prospective donors will be asked for their support in Campaign 2007, hoping to top last year’s pledges of $2.8 million, as well as their support for the Israel Emergency Campaign to help Israel revitalize after the conflict with Lebanon. Well into a quarter century of helping the community, Super Sunday is the largest single-day fund-raising event in the Bay Area and is sponsored by The Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties.

Super Sunday marks the official kick-off of the Federation’s Annual Campaign, which raised $24.6 million in 2006. Donations made through the Campaign go to support over 60 charitable agencies and programs in the Bay Area, as well as in Israel and around the world wherever there are Jews in need. The funds ensure that those in need receive the services to live full lives with dignity, make it possible for many to experience Jewish life and culture and help to ensure that the Jewish voice is heard.

Donations made to the Israel Emergency Campaign go to help rebuild and revitalize Northern Israel. The funds will help rebuild schools, help children and families deal with the post-traumatic effects of living with the conflict and much more.

This year, Super Sunday will be held in two locations: at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco and at Kehiliah Jewish High School in Palo Alto. The second location was reinstituted this year (Super Sunday was held on the South Peninsula from 1983 to 2002) in response to the growing Jewish population and community dedication that has been taking place on the Peninsula.

wedding anniversary. Their three-year-old son Myles attends preschool at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco.

Both Rhona and Steven are both heavily involved in the local Jewish community. Rhona co-chairs the Federation’s Community and Cultural Relations sub-committee of the Planning and Agency Support (PAS) Committee and is a member of the PAS Steering Committee and the Women’s Alliance Board, for which she co-chairs its book group. She also has been involved with the West Coast American Friends of the Israel Museum for over 10 years and founded the Los Angeles’ Junior Associate Group. A current Wexner fellow, Rhona is also on the Program and Membership Committees of the Contemporary Jewish Museum and chairs the PR and Marketing Committee for the Holocaust Center of Northern California. Professionally, Rhona works as a fine art consultant.

Steven is an ear, nose and throat physician and surgeon. . He is the Board president of the Holocaust Center of Northern California and has co-chaired a strategic planning process that resulted in the Center’s revitalization and relocation to the Federation’s Steuart Street building. In addition, Steven is a committee member of the Holocaust Memorial Education Fund of the Federation’s Endowment Fund and a member of the steering committee for San Francisco’s annual Yom Hashoah Commemoration. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Steven is a graduate of AIPAC’s Leadership Development Program and a former board member of Congregation Beth Sholom in San Francisco, where he was founding vice president of its Mens Club. 

Rhona talks about their dedication to the Jewish community. “Most of us are not even aware of how the Federation and its beneficiary agencies touch our lives – whether it is through schools, culture, educational programs, teen programs or help for the elderly. Federation is everywhere! It is really important to support the community presence. Super Sunday is the one day the community comes together to say thank you for all that the Federation does for us and the best way to say thank you is to give, either time or money or both.”

The Jewish Community Federation is the central organization for fundraising, planning, outreach and leadership development for Jewish communities in San Francisco, the Peninsula, and Marin and Sonoma counties. In fiscal year 2006, the Federation’s annual campaign allocated $18.3 million to some 60 agencies providing social services, educational and cultural programs in the Bay Area, in the U.S., Israel and elsewhere in the world. In fiscal year 2006, the Federation’s Endowment Fund, with assets exceeding $1.8 billion, provided more than $203 million for a variety of grants, seed projects and emergency needs. For more information, call 415.777.0411 or visit www.sfjcf.org.