Jewish Communal Fund (JCF), the largest and most active Jewish donor-advised fund in the United States, approved $1 million worth of emergency coronavirus-related grants through its endowment the JCF Special Gifts Fund, according to a press release on Monday.
The grants include $500,000 to the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty to provide emergency food delivery for low-income seniors; $250,000 to UJA-Federation of New York’s Community Initiative for Holocaust Survivors; $150,000 to the UJA-Federation of New York to provide thousands of Passover “Seder Meals to Go”; $50,000 to UJA-Federation of New York’s Single Parent Initiative to provide emergency cash assistance for single parents; and $50,000 to Dorot’s University Without Walls, an initiative that connects seniors with educational programs through their phones.
The JCF Special Gifts Fund Committee selected the grantee charities with the assistance of UJA-Federation of New York, which has already pledged $34 million to help combat the coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s our privilege and responsibility to step up and provide immediate support to vulnerable members of our community to weather this storm, including those facing food insecurity and elderly Holocaust survivors,” said Daniel Blaser, chair of JCF’s Charitable Distribution/Special Gifts Fund Committee. “We’re grateful to our community of fundholders who, in giving through JCF, have enabled JCF to act quickly and make these significant grants from its endowment with the help and expertise of our friends at UJA.”