Levi Antelis, eight, attending Super Sunday with his mom and siblings, helped carry pledge cards at the Super Sunday fund-raiser.
January 31, 2008
Political notables and veteran volunteers did their part, but it was young people who best exemplified the spirit of giving — and asking — at Super Sunday, the annual phonathon of the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey.
Teens made up a significant portion of the volunteers — 140 of around 476 — on Jan. 27 as the federation brought in pledges of 457,491 (including those gathered before the day), to help fund its programs and projects locally, in Israel, and in other Jewish communities around the world.
Among them was Michele Ruderman, a 15-year-old sophomore from Warren, who had stopped by the Wilf campus in Scotch Plains to squeeze in a few hours of community service before flying to Israel. She will be there for a four-month high school experience hosted by the Reform movement’s Eisendrath International Exchange Program.
Working the phones was Zack Stone, 17, of Teaneck, who secured a pledge of $1,000 from one caller. It heartened not only him but also gave a boost to his brothers Yoni and Ezra — two thirds of a set of triplets — and their friend, Ilan Casper, 17, who were also making calls. The Stone brothers’ commitment to the cause runs in the family; they are the sons of federation executive vice president Stanley Stone.
Younger kids also did their part. Shalom Gruber has four years to go before he’s officially allowed to call for donations, but the 10-year-old from Staten Island asked if he could at least make a thank-you call. To his surprise, the person he was thanking for last year’s donation promptly announced he was giving $1,000 again this year. Shalom related the story with a glow of pride, even going into strategies he would want to try with other givers.
The youngster worked alongside some volunteers who said they have been helping out since the event started in the early 1980s at the Green Lane Y in Union — a cross-generational event that had been sought by planners, including Super Sunday chairs Scott Spector of Scotch Plains and Amy Kasson of Warren and their vice-chairs, Suzanne and Rob Tucker of Westfield.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) was among the lineup of government and civic leaders who came by to show their support for the community.
Super Sunday volunteers take a refreshment break.
“People know that we Jews take care of our own. That’s what gives us our strength,” Lautenberg, onetime chair of the national United Jewish Appeal, told volunteers. “So don’t be put off if people turn you down. Remind them that you’re doing this for their own good, so that their children and their children’s children can carry on our Jewish values.”
Joining the senator at the phones was Union County Freeholder Chester Holmes. “I used to work in law enforcement and now I own a security company, so when people hear my voice, they do as I ask,” he said with a grin, and reached for yet another number to try.
In perhaps a reflection of hard economic times, a few callers said people responded to their appeal by saying that they were in financial trouble themselves. In a year when Jewish Family Service of Central NJ has reported a record number of requests for food aid, that came as no surprise.
When people turn down callers, “you can’t take it personally,” said Rachel Barash of Scotch Plains. It was her first time volunteering at Super Sunday, but with years of marketing background, she was soon coming up with ideas for how to make the process more effective next year.
And if someone reached by phone did seem in dire straits, the callers were ready with an immediate offer to have someone from a federation agency call back and see if help could be arranged. “That is doing a real mitzva,” Maxine Schwartz of Westfield told the people she was training to make calls.
Joel Horowitz presided, as he has for many years, over the abundant flow of food for the volunteers, with additional delicacies coming from the cooking lessons provided by Israeli emissary Miri Hasson. Dani Klein, North America campus director of the Israel advocacy organization Stand With Us, fitted in a coaching session for teens on how to deal with anti-Israel sentiment on college campuses, before making way for the rollicking rhythms of the Shabbatones, the official rock band of the Jewish Community Center of Central New Jersey.
And in quieter but very busy rooms, volunteers sorted through boxes and boxes of pledge cards — the treasured harvest of all that effort.
“We seem to have had a pretty steady stream of people coming in,” Spector said, showing, by mid-afternoon, signs of fatigue, but still smiling.
Leaders show their support
Working the phones on Super Sunday, Assemblyman Chester Holmes did his best to reach donors for the Central federation’s annual campaign.
AMONG THE government and civic leaders who came to the Wilf campus Jan. 27 to show their support for Super Sunday and the Jewish community were:
United States Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez (both D-NJ); State Sen. Tom Kean, (R-Dist.21); Assembly members Jon Bramnick and Eric Munoz (both R-Dist. 21), Upendra Chivukula (D-Dist 17), and Linda Stender (D-Dist. 22); mayors Chris Bollwage of Elizabeth, Albert Ellis of Watchung, Colleen Mahr of Fanwood, and Victor Sordillo of Warren; Union County freeholders Angel Estrada, Chester Holmes, and Betty Jane Kowalski; and Scotch Plains councilman Kevin Glover.
In a statement issued after his visit, Menendez said, “It has always been such a pleasure for me to participate in a Super Sunday event at the Jewish Federation of Central Jersey, and to see firsthand the Federation’s commitment to Jewish values, to its beneficiary agencies, to community needs, to Israel and to countries around the world.
“That kind of commitment is evidenced in so many ways: by the work the Federation does for faraway places like Darfur, as well as for the aging seniors, who will also benefit from the NORC demonstration project for which I was able to help secure federal funding in Fiscal Year 2009. I congratulate the Federation for its good work and hope this Super Sunday was the most successful event yet.”
A double chance to say thank you
TWO PEOPLE in particular welcomed Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s visit of support to the Super Sunday fund-raiser in Scotch Plains on Jan. 27:
Sen. Frank Lautenberg, center, got a special greeting from Russian immigrants Irina Bereznaya and Leon Adlershteyn.
Irina Bereznaya and Leon Adlershteyn, a married couple who immigrated from St. Petersberg in Russia in 1994. They grabbed the chance to thank the longtime legislator in person for helping pass legislation that had prompted the Russian government to allow more people to emigrate.
The couple, who live in Jersey City, said they made the two-hour journey to Scotch Plains out of ongoing gratitude to the Union County community that welcomed them when they first arrived. Adlershteyn is retired, but Bereznaya still works for Jewish Family Service of Central New Jersey, providing that same kind of help and welcome to new arrivals.
They said their appreciation for their life in the United States was underlined by a recent call to a friend still living in Russia. “She said that she has to spend a third of her pension on her eye drops,” Bereznaya said. “If her sister wasn’t still working in her 70s, there wouldn’t be money for food.”