Earlier in the week, I attended a funeral for a wonderful, gentle man who served as a trustee of a private foundation.  His daughter shared with me that he made sure to make his final distributions from the foundation to the Federation.  If he had waited for just one more day, he wouldn’t have had the strength to sign the documents.  He took his responsibility and commitment to our community to an unbelievable and very moving level. 

Yesterday, a group of us heard from Will Recant from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, one of our two primary overseas partners.  He shared stories about the work of the Joint.  I know that during the crisis in the Republic of Georgia, JDC staff went right into the area of fighting to help move the elderly members of the Jewish community.  In Ethiopia, staff has been caring for the remaining Jewish population (most of whom will be making aliyah to Israel over the next few years).  In Haiti, staff is on the ground working strategically and feverishly to make a difference with the dollars we raised for Haiti Earthquake relief.

All the above shows true commitment.  In a sense, our job is easy when it comes to making a commitment to the Federation.  All we have to do is answer the call, make our pledge and pay it.  Through that simple act, we help hundreds of thousands in Pittsburgh, Israel and around the world. 

With a commitment so easy to fulfill, I hope you will help us reach others in the community to make their financial commitments to our campaign at our upcoming Fundfest – our week of phone-a-thons.  Fundfest is being chaired by the Pittsburgh members of National Young Leadership Cabinet.  These young adults, all having to be under the age of 40 when joining, make a commitment to be involved in their local Federation and to donate a minimum of $5,000 to our campaign.  Help these committed young leaders make this the best Fundfest ever.  All it takes is about three hours of your time.  Sign up here. 

Thank you for your commitment to our community. 

Shabbat Shalom.