Photo courtesy: The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati
Annual Campaign co-chairs Rini Levy and Jim Heldman on what keeps them saying yes, and why they’re asking you to
Submitted by The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati
Rini Levy and Jim Heldman didn’t have to think long.
For Rini, it starts with a rule she lives by. “My philosophy, when it comes to anything I’m asked to do in the Jewish community, is that unless I have a really good reason to say no, I’m going to say yes.” That habit started years ago. “I was asked to do something small, and I said yes. When you say yes once, you get brought into something that makes you see the importance of it, and then you just want to keep saying yes.”
Jim has decades of Federation fundraising experience, and chairing the Annual Campaign was one thing he hadn’t done. “It was a natural progression for me. I was very honored to be asked to chair. I had never done that, and I jumped at the opportunity.”
Rini and Jim are leading the campaign alongside Major Gifts co-chairs Bryna Miller and Kai Schneider and Community Campaign co-chairs Max Fisher and Tracy Juran. At a recent Major Gifts gathering, Max described what changed for him as his own family grew. “Somewhere between Mason and Cole, this stopped being my grandparents’ and parents’ story and started being ours.”
The stakes are clear. Raising $6,750,000 this year is what keeps a healthy Jewish Cincinnati going and carries the Federation’s 130-year legacy of building Jewish life and caring for one another.
Rini and her husband moved to Cincinnati thirty years ago with no relatives nearby, and raising Jewish children was their top priority. “It was so important to us to instill that sense of Jewish identity and Jewish pride in them,” she said. A Jewish day school and Jewish camp gave them a way in. “That is where we met our lifelong friends. That is where we found our place in this community. I just want to make sure that future generations get that same chance.”
Family still gathers around her. This Rosh Hashanah, it was her mother-in-law from Colombia, her brother and sister-in-law from Philadelphia, her kids from New York, and friends here who are like family. “There ended up being 48 of us at dinner!”
Jim’s family roots run deep in Cincinnati. “I come from a family that’s been in Cincinnati for over 150 years,” he said. “For me, it’s an extension of the joy of being part of that legacy, my great-grandparents, grandparents, my parents, raising children, and now having grandchildren.”
Jim saw the need up close during a recent community gathering, when an attendee asked about what the Federation actually does. “I explained that there were members of the Jewish community, maybe even in this room, who needed the Federation to help with housing and food and other services,” he said. “The resources that Federation helps provide are needed and appreciated by so many people.”
The Annual Campaign supports more than twenty local agencies, along with Jewish communities in need in Israel and overseas. Rini describes the reach of a single gift the same way. “If you made a list of your priorities and had to go out and make gifts to each of these agencies individually, it’s a lot,” she said. “Give a gift to Federation, and they all benefit from it. It’s done for you.”
She’s heard from the people who use the Heldman Family Food Pantry at Jewish Family Service’s Barbash Family Vital Support Center. “Somebody who doesn’t have enough money for groceries gets to go to the food pantry and shop with dignity and feed their family and have a Passover meal because of the work Federation does,” she said. “Every time I hear those stories, they still really touch my heart.”
