As reported in the last issue, due to the pandemic and the resulting economic crisis, an estimated 1.2 million Jewish adults across North America are worrying about paying their next month’s housing costs; more than 500,000 are facing food insecurity, wondering how they will afford to feed their families; and countless others are making the painful choice between food, medicine, or their utility bills.
To address these increasing needs, a group of national donors partnered with Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) to create the Human Services Relief Matching Fund to raise tens of millions of dollars to support human service needs for communities across the country, including right here in the Greater Indianapolis area.
Because of the generosity of hundreds of donors, as of press time, the Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis was well on its way to receiving the maximum amount in available matching funds from this national program. Initially eligible to receive $60,000 in matching funds for $120,000 raised in new and increased gifts from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31, the Indianapolis Jewish community already raised $125,000 toward this initiative through early December.
Due to this success, the amount of matching funds the Indianapolis community could receive was increased by another $12,000—meaning the community was eligible to receive $72,000 for human services relief efforts for $144,000 raised in eligible gifts.Thank you to everyone who contributed to this effort!