1965 U. J. A. Drive Reported Running Ten Percent Above Last Year

An upward trend in community campaigns on behalf of the 1965 nationwide United Jewish Appeal and local Jewish causes was reported by Max M. Fisher, UJA General Chairman, in a report to the UJA executive committee, which concluded a three-day retreat here today.

A study of campaign achievements in 376 communities, exclusive of New York City, whose campaigns are underway or completed, Mr. Fisher stated, revealed a total of $66,476,000 raised to date, for an increase of 9,7 percent, compared to the $60,476,000 these same communities raised at this time last year.

While the sum indicated above did not include the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York, whose proceeds go almost entirely for overseas work, reports from the organization indicate that its campaign is running ahead at about the same percentage as the federated campaigns in other communities. Some 30 top American Jewish leaders, including officers, national chairmen, and executive committee members from a score of cities throughout the United States, attended the retreat.

Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman, UJA executive vice-chairman, told the gathering that the Appeal was taking a number of concrete steps to help community campaigns increase total giving even further in 1966. “Together with community leadership we will attempt to solicit and secure larger contributions throughout the nation by early December, rather than February or January, as in other years.”

Moses A. Leavitt, executive vice-chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee, and Gottlieb Hammer, executive vice-chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Inc., told the group of the problems their agencies foresaw in 1966, in assisting hundreds of thousands of immigrants in Israel and Jews in need overseas. The two agencies are the principal beneficiaries of the United Jewish Appeal.