Philanthropy

This year’s Community Campaign Chair, Debbie Kuniansky, is passionate about Federation. Why? Because Jewish Atlanta has touched her family at every stage. From her kids at day school, camp, and Hillel, to her aging family members at Jewish HomeLife, and everything in between. The 2022 Campaign launches on August 15.

When the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Greater Atlanta Chapter hosts its 39th annual National Philanthropy Day event on November 4, 2021, Jewish Atlanta can take justifiable pride that Cherie Aviv will be honored as Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year. 

Cherie Aviv is a fiercely dedicated and effective fundraiser with a longtime interest in the arts, and a deep passion for social services in the Jewish community, older adults, clients with disabilities, and meeting the needs of our region’s Holocaust survivors. Her fundraising efforts and remarkable collaborative initiatives have raised more than $10 million to date to benefit people across the greater Atlanta community and beyond.

In 2016, after assessing the needs of Atlanta’s Holocaust survivors, Cherie spearheaded the partnership between Jewish Family & Career Services (JF&CS), Jewish HomeLife, Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta (MJCCA), The Breman Museum, Eternal Life-Hemshech, and Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta that created the Holocaust Survivors Support Fund (HSSF). Through Cherie’s efforts, the fund has raised just under $3 million, engaged more than 600 donors, and had a transformational impact on the lives of more than 135 Holocaust survivors annually.  

On behalf of Federation, Karen Botnick Paz nominated Aviv for the AFP award. In her nomination, Karen paints a rich picture of Cherie’s busy life. “It’s 5:30 a.m. and Cherie Aviv is quietly reading before she takes a morning run. Juggling up to four books at a time keeps her mind engaged, while running allows time for thinking. These hobbies provide a healthy balance to her full-time volunteer schedule which runs the gamut from fundraising, creating special moments, outreach, and hands-on activities.  

Cherie applies this same discipline and determination to everything she undertakes. Terri Bonoff, CEO JF&CS said, “Cherie’s approach is to respond to community needs with urgency and innovation. This was evident with the 2014 JF&CS Capital Campaign to Complete the Campus where the campaign raised $6.6 million, exceeding the goal by $1.5 million. Cherie co-chaired with John Perlman and made the matching lead gift.  

Miriam Friedman, an MJCCA professional shared, “Cherie co-led a team of 15+ volunteer and staff solicitors and helped to construct the campaign framework from marketing materials to campaign structure and reporting, to board solicitations and grant writing. Cherie’s project management savvy kept the team on track and motivated, exceeding the campaign goal by over $1.5 million.”   

Mark Silberman, past Board Chair of Federation said, “Cherie has no peer when it comes to fundraising. Absolutely the best I have seen.” 

While serving as Vice President of Development at Jewish HomeLife, Cherie increased their annual campaign by 25%. From 2014-2016, as Co-Chair of Jewish Family & Career Services Capital Campaign, she helped secure $6.6 million. In 2018, she and her husband Gary chaired a record-setting Community of Caring luncheon, which raised $500,000. 

Cherie is not only generous with her time and expertise, she is personally generous, though her giving is often anonymous. Supporting letters for the AFP award provide story after story of her dedication and generosity and her engaging collaborative style.  

Tammi Parker, a friend, and volunteer observes, “Cherie is the ultimate player/coach. She creates the experience for the volunteer, makes it look easy and doable, and fills in any gaps that the volunteer is not able to cover.”  Terri Bonoff added, “On one occasion, I joined 20 volunteers to make rugelach to give to survivors, caregivers, or clients with disabilities. These volunteer baking events are quite inspiring and there are waiting lists to join.” 

One thing is for certain, what Cherie has done for the Atlanta community and beyond is priceless. Her impact is everywhere. JF&CS can provide comprehensive support services for any senior in the Atlanta community through Aviv Older Adult Services. Jewish HomeLife is well known throughout Atlanta for its high quality of care at Aviv Rehabilitation Center. Thousands of older adults are cheered by birthday cards through Aviv Celebrations. Cancer patients feel the warmth through fleece blankets while going through chemotherapy delivered through her efforts. She has shared that she has more new projects in the works.   

Thank you, Cherie, for the abundance of wisdom, persistence, and chesed you bring to philanthropy. You have lifted countless lives! 

The average length of a menstruating person’s period is five days. The average length of a menstrual cycle is 28 days. Those numbers inspired advocates around the world, and our own Women’s Philanthropy activists, to declare Menstrual Equity Day on 5/28.

Providing menstrual supplies to Atlantans who cannot afford them has been a major focus of Women’s Philanthropy for more than a year. Through Project Dignity, our women have engaged friends, families, and Jewish teens from JumpSpark to collect and distribute more than 100,000 menstrual supplies across Atlanta. Lori Peljovich, who helps lead the initiative says, “It’s been a great hands-on way to have an impact during the pandemic because much of the shopping can be done online. I’ve been so impressed by the women of our community when asked to step up and engage.”

“Project Dignity has been so successful that we’ve been able to partner with a number of organizations in our community to expand our reach,” Peljovich said. “We were overwhelmed by the response, and we will try to do collection drives twice a year in order to keep increasing our distribution to those in need.” To get involved contact: Yael Sherman, Director of Women’s Philanthropy, ysherman@jewishatlanta.org

Some surprising facts about menstruation equity:

• In her lifetime, a woman will spend approximately 3,500 days (equivalent to almost 10 years) menstruating.
• Approximately 70 percent of women use tampons and may use 11,000-15,000 in their lifetime.
• 1 in 10 college students in the U.S—a relatively privileged group—experience period poverty, which has clear ties to stress-related mental health.
• In a 2019 study of low-income women, almost two-thirds of respondents reported not being able to afford the products they needed in the last year.
• According to a 2019 study, 1 in 5 teens in the U.S. could not afford period products, and 1 in 4 have missed class because they did not have access to pads or tampons.
• In the state of Georgia, we have Georgia STOMP (Stop Tax on Menstrual Products), working in the legislature to eliminate the 4 percent state tax on items necessary to manage periods. Georgia STOMP has over 15,000 members and helped to introduce HB 8, which has yet to pass.

According to NY Rep. Carolyn Maloney, 2021 ushered in major policy reforms for menstrual equity around the world. New Year’s Day marked the end of the tampon tax in England —the culmination of a seven-year organizing campaign. Scotland made history as the first nation to mandate free period products to anyone in need.

Here in the United States, there have been notable advances, too. Back in March, when Congress passed the CARES Act, it included a long-sought provision: reclassification of menstrual products as qualified medical expenses, meaning they now can be purchased with pre-tax dollars via employee health savings and flexible spending accounts.