MetroWest Federation receives donation from Summit Elks
At the May 15 meeting of the Summit Elks Club, the leaders of the organization presented a check for $63,000 to Dov Ben-Shimon, the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ’s CEO. All the funds raised at the Elks’ record-setting annual fundraiser on April 18, were in support of Federation’s Israel Emergency Fund.
According to Fred Honold, Elks Lodge Exalted Ruler, “This noble effort led by James Reiss and the team he assembled, has touched our minds and hearts. It demonstrates the good that happens in this world when good people step forward to take care of people halfway around the world who exist in a desperate and dire situation… to provide them the simple necessities of life that we here take for granted. Our community is blessed to have these good people in our midst.”
Jimmy Reiss, an Elks Club member, a Federation donor, and the son of Lion of Judah Lois Reiss, brought the idea of a raffle in support of the Israel Fund to his club, which is mostly non-Jewish. The board supported him, and his idea grew to an event with music, food, open bar, and a tricky-tray in addition to the first prize raffle of a $10,000 basket of expensive whiskeys.
At the fundraiser, speakers Ben Lehroff, Rabbi Erin R. Glazer of Temple Sinai in Summit, Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz of Temple B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, and Mr. Reiss shared their personal stories of Israel and antisemitism and thanked the members of the Elks Club for being true friends to the Jewish community.
Others at the check presentation, not pictured, include:
Jeff Karp, Elks committee member; Dean Goldberg, Elks committee member; Howard Rabner, Federation CFO; Jimmy Reiss, Elks committee member; and Fred Honold, Elks Exalted Ruler.
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