Jewish National Fund of Southern California Welcomes

Contact: Hermine Mahmouzian • JNF Regional Director • 949-260-0400 • hmahmouzian@jnf.org

 December 2007 -- Orange County, CA -- Jewish National Fund (JNF) of Southern California is pleased to welcome two Long Beach couples to its Century Club.  Mr. Jerry Kaufman and Dr. Byna Kane Kaufman and Drs. Lance and Rochelle “Cookie” Sieger -- who all recently participated in JNF’s Leadership Conference in New York where they met with other major donors and attended a gala evening in honor of Ronald Lauder -- announced they were becoming Century Club members, which signals a $100,000 donation.

Neither couple is new to JNF. Jerry is past president of the Southern California Region and currently serves on its executive committee, as well as serving as co-president of Temple Beth Shalom in Long Beach.  He is a mortgage and investment banker and principal of JSK Financial. Bryna is a founding member of JNF’s Sapphire Society, the women’s giving division, and is a physician/dermatologist in Long Beach. She has been honored as one of the top dermatologists in the U.S. Cookie is the current regional president and as well as a founding member of Sapphire and Lance is a major donor to the organization as well as a doctor at Harbor UCLA Hospital.

Though Dr. Rochelle Cookie Sieger and her husband, Lance, have been committed to developing the State of Israel for some time, it wasn’t until last May and the first JNF mission they ever took together, that the urgency of what needs to be done hit Lance hard.  

“We got to see things we had never seen on our own,” explained Cookie. “What we saw was primarily in the Negev, and it offered an entirely different perspective. It made clear how important it is to develop that area for economic and social reasons. We really had a view of the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ and realized how necessary it is to build an infrastructure that allows people to pull themselves up on their own.

As for the Kaufmans, “involvement in the Jewish community is important to us,” said Jerry, “and is part of our daily life. JNF continues to be our primary charitable focus and we are proud to be members of the organization.”

Both couples agree that to be successful in fundraising you must set by example and that is what they have done by committing $100, 000.00 to JNF.  “We hope others will follow in our footsteps and make JNF a priority when deciding where their charitable giving will go," said Bryna.We plan on visiting Israel this summer and spending time with JNF in the Negev> and throughout the country.”

Captions: The Kaufmans top, the Siegers below. Both photos are available as separate jpegs.

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JEWISH NATIONAL FUND (JNF) began in 1901 as a dream and vision to reestablish a homeland in Israel for Jewish people everywhere. Jews the world over collected coins in iconic JNF Blue Boxes, purchasing land and planting trees until ultimately, their dream of a Jewish homeland was a reality. JNF gives all generations of Jews a unique voice in building a prosperous future for the land of Israel and its people.

JNF embodies both heart and action; our work is varied in scope but singular in benefit. We strive to bring an enhanced quality of life to all of Israel’s residents, and translate these advancements to the world beyond. JNF is greening the desert with millions of trees, building thousands of parks, creating new communities and cities for generations of Israelis to call home, bolstering Israel’s water supply, helping develop innovative arid-agriculture techniques, and educating both young and old about the founding and importance of Israel and Zionism.

JNF is a registered 501(c)(3) organization and United Nations NGO, which continuously earns top ratings from charity overseers.

For more information on JNF, call 888-JNF-0099 or visit www.jnf.org.