By Joel Magalnick, JTNews Correspondent
Seattle-based Jewish Family Service has recently received a large grant from Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger. Mazon, a private philanthropic organization that gives funding for people going hungry across the United States, granted $15,000 to JFS. This amount is equal to what JFS received last year.
According to Development and Marketing Coordinator Jennifer Cohen, Mazon had recently sent out a letter to beneficiary agencies stating that many organizations would receive decreased — or even zero — funding this year.
“The fact that we were funded at the same level as last year shows how impressed they are with JFS of Seattle and how critical our program is,” Cohen wrote in an e-mail.
According to Cohen, of the $285,000 budget for the food bank, $250,000 is received as in-kind donations, or actual food. As a result, this grant will cover nearly half of the remainder of the JFS budget to purchase more food.
Demand for the food bank has gone up 35 percent in the past year.
According to JFS, much of the money Mazon uses for these grants comes from contributions from individuals and synagogues. Many Seattle-area synagogues hold annual campaigns to raise this money.