May 22, 2007

UJC/the Federations of North America have approved more than $1.8 million in Israel Emergency Campaign humanitarian support for the city of Sderot and the surrounding area, which remains under missile fire from the nearby Gaza Strip.

The UJC/Federation Israel Emergency Campaign, (IEC), launched in response to the Second Lebanon War, has raised $360 million in pledges to-date to help Israel's North recover and rebuild, and to aid the South and Sderot region. In the past seven years the Sderot region has been targeted by more than 6,000 missiles that have injured hundreds and killed 10.

Before this week’s newest IEC allocation, UJC/Federations have approved $6.4 million for Sderot and the region. That aid began during the first Israel Emergency Campaign, launched in 2002 in response to Palestinian terrorism, and continued through the latest IEC, launched in July 2006 in response to Israel’s defense war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
 
Since restarting the IEC last year, UJC has allocated nearly $226.8 million to its overseas partners, the Jewish Agency for Israel and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, as well as to the Ethiopian National Project and ORT. Of these IEC funds, $314 million was raised by U.S. federations, and the rest by Canadian federations, which flows to IEC programs through Keren Hayesod.

UJC’s IEC Work Group, which represents all city-size federations and reviews all IEC proposals, approved the latest Sderot funding Monday. The UJC Executive Committee ratified these recommendations today.

They are:

• $1.4 million for JAFI, to bring 8,200 school children in Sderot and the region for six-day summer camps and other respite trips in the central part of Israel, away from the rocket attacks. Activities will include nature hikes and science activities, arts and crafts, music and sports. JAFI already provided respite trips for 500 children this past weekend, which this funding will help cover;
• $400,000 for the JDC, to bring the elderly and disabled on respite trips away from Sderot. Last weekend the JDC already took 550 elderly for three-night respites and 100 disabled residents on five-night respites, which half this funding will cover;
• $26,000 for the Ethiopian National Project, for an emergency social worker, translators and basic emergency amenities for Sderot's 500 residents of Ethiopian descent;

The IEC Work Group also approved other new IEC funding, including:

• $2.6 million to the ENP to continue services to Ethiopian teens in the North and in Sderot in the 2007-2008 school years;
• $1 million to Magen David Adom to harden security at MDA stations in the North.

With the attacks on Israel’s South continuing and the North still recovering from last year’s war, federations continue to work to raise much-needed IEC dollars.

“Time and again, the Jewish federations of North America have stood shoulder to shoulder with their Israeli brethren in times of need, and we continue to do whatever is necessary to help the Jewish state as needs arise,” said UJC President and CEO Howard Rieger.

“Through the IEC, we were instrumental and played a lead role in helping Israel recover from last summer’s war — and now we’re continuing to do the same thing in Sderot,” Rieger added.

In the first days of last summer’s conflict, IEC funding helped provide educational, humanitarian and economic support chiefly for Israel’s battered North. Emergency aid first went to upgrade bomb shelters, provide children’s activities in shelters, remove the most vulnerable residents from the North, and provide trauma counseling. Those vulnerable populations included the elderly and disabled, immigrants in absorption centers, and children, who were taken to summer camps in the safer, central region of Israel.

In the weeks and months after the war, IEC funding went for long-term counseling for vulnerable populations and others, for the Fund for Victims of Terror, for back-to-school educational programs for students whose lives were disrupted by the war, scholarships for university students forced to serve in the army and unable to earn tuition, and incentive scholarships to attract students back to universities in the North and South whose enrollment was dropping due to war and continued violence.

IEC funding also was aimed at longer-term, more strategic efforts. This aid included providing loans to small businesses who faced bankruptcy or losses due to the war and continued violence; creating business opportunities and growth through mentorship, job training and placement, and regional development, helping local governments improve emergency response and planning, and helping educational and social programs aimed at fostering young leaders in the North and South.

For details about the IEC, please visit UJC’s IEC Web page.