September 2007, Tishrei 5768

Dear Friends,

Microeconomics, helping individuals with small grants, receives the Nobel Prize for its impact.   Well, the Amy Adina Fund has not yet been recognized for a Nobel Prize, but you bring it to the top of Buber’s human  “I - Thou” relationship, where we are completely open to and with each other, as our lives find fullest meaning through relationships. 

With your help, since its inception twenty years ago the Fund has awarded an amazing $290,000!   This past year alone, $40,000 has been awarded to grantees who volunteer, providing hope and caring in Argentina, Israel, Turkey, Uruguay, and the U.S.  We hope you will read and take pride in the sample of young people whose reports are briefly excerpted on the following pages.

The Fund continues to be unique in awarding grants to individuals who work in progressive social action projects of their own choice.  A major requirement is that upon their return, they commit to educate/encourage peers to participate in some type of social action, continuing the struggle against indifference, cynicism, and despair.  Again and again, each act of loving kindness multiplies outward.

We are grateful for your generous annual support, the extra gifts that honor life cycle events/special occasions, and estate planning gifts.  All contributions go directly to the endowment base; the Schulman family covers all administrative costs.  Although the stock markets fluctuate tumultuously, the endowment base has remained strong thanks to professional financial management. Gifts are fully tax deductible; the Fund remains an IRS 501 (c )3 corporation.  

For additional information, grant criteria, or a grant application, check our website:  www.AmyAdinaSchulmanFund.org        

  Health and peace.  May you, your family, and your good deeds           

flourish in this new year.

Dan, Jennie, Molly, Jake        Joel, Nancy, Logan                   Ruth and

                                                                         Mel z”l of blessed memory

             Excerpts from a few of this year’s grantees:

Rachel B. and Alisa K.,.  students at U. Michigan, spent their spring break building houses for impoverished families in Montevideo, Uruguay.  In high school Rachel coordinated students building houses with Habitat for Humanity; she planned silent auctions that raised more than $8,000 to meet emergency needs for families in her school district. Rachel wrote, “In 2002 Uruguay was struck by a severe economic crisis.  The peso was devalued 94% leaving many previously working class families impover-ished, squatting in…shanty-towns with dirt floors, leaking tin roofs, homes the size of a college dorm room.  (With)‘Un techo para mis pais’ (A Roof for my Country),  I worked with a grandmother, 2 parents, their 4 young girls.  The family pays 10% of the cost of the house and contrib.-uted labor.  ‘Techo’ provides only a basic house – elevated off the ground, wood walls, a sound roof – to ensure sustainability.   I struggled with the fact we were still providing families with sub-standard living conditions. 

        I came to realize that it’s a matter of perspective.  The family was so grateful for what they were receiving, a vast improvement from their old life… (I learned) “it is important to cherish any improvement in your life…I am grateful to have been part of this combination learning and service hands-on work in sustainable development… an incredible life changing experience.   Thank you so much.”

  Daniella G. is a 2006 graduate from Princeton.   “I wanted to become involved in an effort to which I am personally committed, to work for a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Israel or Argentina where I am familiar with the cultures and have a firm grasp of the languages, so the experience would be not so much linguistic and cultural immersion, but working with people to reach a common goal through a structured organization.”  She worked for a year with Poder Ciudadano (PC), an NGO in Buenos Aires.        

    “Implicit in its mission statement is an understanding of democracy as the most egalitarian and just system we know…cultivating this system thru collective action.  PC plays an active role in advocating civil rights by disseminating publications (about) the state of the government, and by simply alerting/reminding the citizenry that they have rights…PC is a watchdog organization that urges the citizenry to use its information to play an active part in their democracy, in their country.

           Briefly, among her activities with the PC,  Daniella worked on a report, “Problems in Democracy: How Should We Solve Them?” noting common problems cited by Argentine citizens and actions that can be taken.  For the Transparency and Anticorruption Division, it was a report on the relationship between gender and corruption “advocating the regularization of promoting women to stakeholder positions.”    She ended her report with appreciation to the Fund, “Your generosity is inspiring.”

                             Brief Excerpts (Continued)

Etan N. interned with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), a non-partisan organization whose goal is “to make Israel a more just and vibrant democracy…fighting for human and civil rights in 3 main areas:  legal advocacy, education, and public outreach.  But many people, in Israel and outside, do not know such a vital organization exists!  As long as its profile is limited, its impact is limited.”   His work in International Relations: to raise ACRI’s profile by composing fact sheets and promo-tional materials, helping to write a new English website, and drafting proposals for potential donors around the world.  “It is insufficient to participate in social justice work simply for the individual experience; it is vital to share the lessons with others.”   Etan brings this back to peers at Brown, his Minneapolis synagogue, & the Conservative Youth Movement

Yotam, Eugenia, Daniel, Michal, Karen, all members of the Zionist youth group HaShomer Hatzair taught English to girls in grades 7 – 9 in the Arab village of Barta’a.    “The most unexpected thing learned had to do with different ways in which the people of Barta’a  juggle their Arab, Israeli, Palestinian, and Muslim identities.  We are western, American, Jewish, an “other” to them.           Running an activity for 9^th grade girls, we discussed their ideas about utopia:  the social norms, institutions, personal autonomy and freedom of choice - a step in the process toward youth empowerment, local and global awareness, and action…          An argument erupted:  some believed there should be freedom of religion in utopia;  others believed in a perfect world everyone would be Muslim.   One side accused the other of being unfaithful and weak in their Muslim convictions;  others responded with accusations of bigotry and intoler-ance.               Tears, confusion and disagreement about something so fundamental in all their lives as Islam led them to question,  ‘Who are you? Why are you asking us these questions?’            We did our best not to get defensive; we wrote them a letter that we read to the class, who we are and what our purpose is, that we were responding to a reality, whether anyone likes it or not, that Jews and Muslims are occupying one land.  The only way to deal with the conflict is through encounters of truth and vision.  We split the class in groups and went over our letter with each of them.  We asked them to write letters about themselves to kids in North America, and, if they would like, to respond to our letter.  There has been a steady flow of letters.  The content of our conversations became more personal, political,  significant.            If it were not for the bravery and openness of the kids in Barta’a, our work would only be successful in that their English would have improved.  Because of their willingness to truly communicate with us, we were able to shed some light on the conflict at large for both ourselves and for them…”

Abbi S. and Rebecca C. attended the Jewish Women International (JWI) conference on Domestic Violence.  “Two years ago I volunteered to be interviewed in JWI’s video,  ‘When Push Comes to Shove…It’s No Longer Love!’  discussing my experiences in an abusive relationship in high school…  Since then, I have advocated for domestic violence programs in youth groups…One of my hopes is to able to work closely with those who have been affected by domestic violence.”

    “. ..As rabbis and cantors we must be educated about these issues so we may speak about them in our communities and have the necessary resources and training so we can help those who may come to us with related concerns.”

Sarah G. graduated from the U. of Washington and enrolled in Hebrew University’s International Masters in Public Health program. “The program transcends traditional public health education with specific courses focusing on common problems, barriers, and constraints that public health workers face when working in developing countries… Israel has an excellent health-care infrastructure and has been in the forefront of medical technology and research.   Yet simply having this infrastructure is not enough to ensure that all people are realistically able to access it.       Socio-economic inequalities are a serious problem in Israel.  Studies have shown that 66% of Ethiopian Jews are dependent on welfare and over half of all Israeli Arab families live in poverty,  with close to 75% for certain sub-populations such as the Bedouin families in the Negev.” 

          Sarah interned in the summer 2005 on a research project in Harare, Zimbabwe where she received training in organizing a community health intervention project.  For the past year she has been the Principal Investigator on an International Pilot Study of Neurological Effects of HIV in Zimbabwe.        

For her MPH thesis at Hebrew University, she plans to interview members of Israel’s minority communities “to collect data on which categories they consider to be the largest barriers and what changes would need to be made in order for them to feel comfortable seeking health care.  I would also interview health care providers to find out what issues they consider to be the largest barriers, and their perspectives on what changes could be made on both the immediate as well as the long-term, large-scale level… to generate a proposal for practical improve-ments that could be made to increase availability of health care and the success of health interventions within all of Israel’s diverse communities.”

Thank you to all our friends, contributors, grantees – shanah tovah, a good year.