Published: 2 August 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
PAULA TOWERS reports on an initiative that brought help to bushfire-affected communities and forged bonds between regional Victorians and Melbourne Jews.
Soon after the 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires had passed, Victorian Jewish community leader David Smorgon visited the Victorian regional town of Corryong. “It is one thing to read about it in the newspapers, watch it on your TV screen,” Smorgon observed. “But witnessing firsthand the devastation … was very eye-opening, and very troubling to see the damage that was so widespread.”
Smorgon immediately enlisted a small group of Jewish philanthropists - Ruth Alter, Fiona Geminder and Ian Davis – to form the Victorian Jewish Bushfire Relief Appeal (VJBRA). In record time, about three months, this appeal raised just over $3 million from the Jewish community, most of it within the first few weeks.
Over the past two years, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) has distributed the proceeds of this appeal to those areas most in need. “From the minute we asked the JCCV to be involved in our bushfire relief fund, we knew we were in the best hands,” Ruth Alter told The Jewish Independent.
The committee believed the community would have a greater impact by collecting and allocating the money from one central appeal, JCCV CEO Judy Fetter told The Jewish Independent Media.
Recipients were selected by an allocations committee, with the appeal focused on opportunities to enhance education (50% of the allocated funds) and support for rebuilding projects (33%). The remainder was distributed to the environment, wellbeing and administration. As of July, the funds have been allocated and most of the projects completed.
Schools also benefited from a collaboration between the appeal and the St Vincent de Paul Society, which created a $300,000 Bushfire Education Scholarship Fund. Over 80% of the 70 scholarships – awarded to assist students with their transition from Year 12 to tertiary studies – were funded by the VJBRA.
