Ali blogs on our January meeting

On January 10th, at the Jewish Tzedaka foundation meeting, we had a speaker from the Dallas Jewish Community Foundation named Marna Edenson. She spoke to us about how the Federation and the Foundation work together, and how their donors decide where to give money to.

After she left, we split up into groups and discussed different topics. The topic my group discussed was Pidyon Shvuyim, which means freeing captured Jews. Most of us felt that it was extremely necessary for the Israelis to do anything they can to get back their captured Jewish soldiers. One of the other groups had the topic of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was captured on 25 June 2006 by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid. Most of us also said that the Israelis should do anything they can to get him back, although in order to do that, we in turn have to give back 1,000 Palestinian soldiers. I personally think it is imperative that we get him back, because if it was me I would be hoping and praying that my family, and country would do anything in their power to get me home.

After this we split into new groups and looked up organizations, and places we can donate our money. My group looked up a soup kitchen in Israel, that helps unprivileged families. We concluded the meeting by discussing the organizations every group looked up, and found many great places that we will consider giving our money to.