On Monday, December 11th, Charleston Jewish Federation hosted our annual open board meeting. Our conference room at 176 Croghan Spur Rd was filled with members and leadership from across the Charleston Jewish community as all in attendance celebrated the extraordinary impact we have made together locally, in Israel and around the world.

 

Here are some highlights from the evening:

 

2017 Community Award Winners:

The following inspirational men and women were commended for their incredible contributions to the Charleston Jewish community over the past year:

Max Kirshstein Community Youth Endowment Award: Adam Ziff and Brook Rovner

Presented by Nathan Kirshstein

Charleston Jewish Federation Leadership Award: Ilene Turbow

​Presented by Mike Mills

CJF Campaign Women’s Division Co-Chairs: Eileen Chepenik & Liz Lynch

Presented by Stu Tessler

CJF Campaign Men's Division Chair: Harry Nadler

Presented by Stu Tessler

Charleston Jewish Federation William Ackerman Volunteer of the Year: Ava Kleinman​

Presented by Jan Lipov

Jewish Family Services Volunteer of the Year: Michelle Chesny

Presented by Sara Sharnoff Chesley

 

Our Leadership:

We paid tribute to Harold Fox, OBM. Harold chaired Jewish Social Services and then Jewish Family Services for over 40 years and it was such an unexpected loss for CJFS and for our community. He contributed so much and we are grateful that his memory will live on in perpetuity through the Harold Fox Endowment for Jewish Family Services created for him during his lifetime, and will continue to help community members for years and years to come.

We welcomed Jimi Horne and Ijo Toporek to the Board of Directors. We said goodbye to Amanda Reeves, to whom we are grateful for her service.

 

FRD Highlights:

Financial Resources Development (FRD) consists of the total annual funding sources brought to the Charleston Jewish Federation and Charleston Jewish Family Services. The dollars we raise support:

• The services and programs of the Federation
• Our local Jewish synagogues, Day School and organizations through the allocation process
• National programs like Birthright Israel
• International organizations liek the Jewish Agency for Israel and World ORT

In short, your donation to Federation touches more Jewish lives than any other organization in the world. We are pleased to share with you our 2017 year to date FRD, which is currently over $1.3 million.

 

Charleston Jewish Family Services Highlights:

It has been a year of unprecedented growth for Charleston Jewish Family Services. We continue to provide our services; which include mental health counseling, crisis case management, financial assistance and food from our community kosher food pantry but in addition, we offer so much more.

New in 2017:

• We began collaboration with Addlestone Hebrew Academy by providing onsite guidance counseling and support to AHA students and families.
• The Senior Outreach Initiative has created new additional opportunities for our older Jewish seniors. Watch the video to hear our Senior Outreach Coordinator, Judy Hinman, share just a few of the many cases we have managed in 2017.
• JELF loans are helping more students with last dollars making it possible for them to attend college and graduate school and our newest program, Jewish Free Loans of Charleston launching in January 2018 will provide interest free loans to Jewish families.