Current Community Needs

Priya provides emotional and financial support to Jewish families facing infertility issues. Since it began, more than 15 babies have been born with support. Priya’s services include counseling, support groups, and subsidies to help pay for fertility treatments or adoption fees for qualified Jewish households. Because infertility is a significant issue in the Jewish community, this program can have a long-term positive impact.

Hundreds of people visit the Jewish Community Campus on a daily basis and rely on the SafeDefend Active Shooter notification system to keep them safe. Inside of each SafeDefend safe/vault is safety and first aid equipment to assist in the event of a medical emergency. Some of the items within the SafeDefend safe/vaults have a “shelf life” or expiration date and need to be refreshed. $10,000 is requested to keep the items within the SafeDefend safe/vaults in good working condition and ready for use.

For almost 20 years, KC Hospice & Palliative Care has participated in the National Institute of Jewish Hospices accreditation program to train their staff to be sensitive to the needs and practices of its Jewish clients. The organization typically sent a few staff members each year who would in turn give presentations to the rest of the staff. The National Institute of Jewish Hospices have changed the rules for accreditation and now require that all staff participate in the NIJH program at the same time to receive the accreditation. Up to $30,000 is need to cover this expense.

Midwest Center for Holocaust Education is seeking gifts in support of rehousing the New Americans documents/photos/materials in archival quality housings and will be conducting archival scans of all documents for preservation. It has secured the commitment of a professional curator/collection manager as a volunteer to process the documents and rehouse them. The current estimated cost to purchase archival materials and the scanner is $1,500-$2,000.

Music is a very important aspect of life at Village Shalom. Its piano is played practically every day for special programing like the Heller Bettinger Music Series and Opera-to-Go with the Lyric Opera, holiday events, weekly happy hour, resident and family gatherings, resident piano use/lessons, and sing-a-longs. The grand piano has been worn down through years of playing and can no longer be maintained to the quality its programs require. Village Shalom wishes to purchase a new quality grand piano. The UMKC Performing Arts Center hosts an annual piano sale with used high quality pianos which are available for between $10,000 and $12,000.

War Horses for Veterans brings together elite military operators from Israeli Special Forces and the United States Special Forces. The program is a cross-cultural experience that builds mental resiliency and addresses mental health in the military. Its goal is to break down barriers and stigma associated with seeking help and provide a safe atmosphere to open up about similar combat and non-combat experiences between the two elite forces.