“Arkansas Stands with Israel” Event Unites CommunityAfter October 7 Attacks
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., March 6, 2024 — On Thursday, February 29, 2024, nearly 100 community members of all faiths united in solidarity with the people of Israel at Jewish National Fund-USA’s “Build Together: Arkansas Stands with Israel” event in Little Rock, to remember the fallen, the hostages, and the families from the communities ravaged by Hamas on October 7, and to learn how Jewish National Fund-USA has already begun implementing plans to rebuild all that Israel’s enemies have torn down.
Hosted at Synagogue Agudath Achim, the event was held in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Arkansas, Lubavitch of Arkansas, Congregation Agudath Achim, Congregation B’Nai Israel, and Commission Fields, and was attended by local philanthropists, rabbis, pastors, and others who support and stand with the land and people of Israel.
Featured speaker, Jewish National Fund-USA CEO, Russell F. Robinson, recounted how, since the morning of the “Black Shabbat,” the organization’s team in Israel immediately mobilized to support the devastated communities — evacuating, feeding, clothing, and providing other supplies and trauma therapy to tens of thousands of evacuees and working tirelessly to coordinate, serve, and restore.
He also shared how, through an unprecedented level of charitable giving, Jewish National Fund-USA’s Israel Resilience Campaign (jnf.org/supportisrael) has raised nearly $60 million in immediate relief funds. The campaign also includes the “Livnot B'Yachad - Build Together” plan, a bold, strategic initiative to restore the Israel Envelope.
“With volunteers from Israel and around the world coming together and working with community leaders, we will rebuild, repaint, and replant,” said Robinson. “We will provide new furniture. We will place benches on front lawns, redo the roads, rebuild parks, and repaint shelters and buildings. The sound of building is the sound of creating tomorrow.”
In an incredible display of unity and community partnership, representatives in attendance from the Jewish Federation of Arkansas presented Jewish National Fund-USA with a check for $36,000 to help those in Israel who need it most.
Attendees also learned about the Arkansas Christian community’s longstanding partnership and support of Jewish National Fund-USA, and about several Arkansas community-funded projects in Israel, including the Central Arava Emergency Response Center in Israel’s Arava region, and a fortified bomb shelter located feet away from a therapeutic equine center in southern Israel that offers visitors protection in the event of enemy rocket attacks.
“Hours after the sirens went off at 6:29 am that Shabbat morning, Jewish National Fund-USA began evacuating families to safety,” said Jewish National Fund-USA Executive Director, Southwest, Reagan Weil. “Where did we take them? To the very region that Arkansas has invested in for the last decade. That refuge would not have been possible without this community.”
For more information, contact Reagan Weil, Executive Director, Southwest, at 512-410-1438 x947 RWeil@jnf.org.
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Media Contact:
Jennifer Milton
About Jewish National Fund-USA
Jewish National Fund-USA builds a strong, vibrant future for the land and people of Israel through bold initiatives and Zionist education. As a leading philanthropic movement, the organization supports critical environmental and nation-building activities in Israel’s north and south as it develops new communities in the Negev and Galilee, connects the next generation to Israel, and creates infrastructure and programs that support ecology, people with disabilities, and heritage site preservation, all while running a fully accredited study abroad experience through its Alexander Muss High School in Israel. Learn more at jnf.org.