Mira Narvey and Daniela Jacobsohn, this year's Co-chairs for the Combined Jewish Appeal's Women's Philanthropy are excited that at this point they have raised $1,447,407.00 "far exceeding" their financial goal set this year at $1.41 million.

 As Narvey says, in addition to meeting and exceeding their goal, "We strove to increase our women donors. We had 1,375 last year and we have gained 109 new women donors this year."

The two women, who have been co-Chairs of Women's Philanthropy for almost two years now say that their main goal in the first year was to make Women’s Philanthropy "more inclusive."

As Jacobsohn explains, "We felt that a lot of women in the Community saw this Division as an elite entity that required women to give a lot of money in order to be involved. We strove to involve more women in the Jewish community by giving them more opportunity to volunteer and also to educate them about the role that the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg plays for the overall well-being of our community."

Narvey adds, "What appealed to us most about Women’s Philanthropy was the chance to show how important women are to our Jewish Community. Women need to stand up and be counted as individuals. They have a voice and are more independent than ever. Also, it makes a big difference having women canvass other women."

Narvey first became involved with Women's Philanthropy after chairing the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg’s Ben-Gurion society or many years. "After I finished that term I was looking for another way to be involved and they were looking for chairs for Women's Philanthropy." I was ecstatic to fill this role and still be involved with Federation but from a different angle. "

Jacobsohn says that she got involved in Women's Philanthropy when "I was approached by Marsha Cosman, who was the chair of Women’s Philanthropy at the time, to join the Women’s Management team.” I served on the Team for 2 years and then was asked to become Co-Chair with Mira Narvey in 2013," she notes.

 Women's Philanthropy participated in an opening Program in September which was a Community wide Combined Jewish Appeal Program for all Canvassers which included Canvasser training.

"Women’s Philanthropy then had two Telethons with very positive results," says Narvey.

When asked about the most rewarding part of their volunteer work, Jacobsohn answers, "We feel that the most rewarding part of our volunteer work as Co-Chairs of the Women’s Philanthropy Team is that we are giving back to the Jewish Community. We are getting women involved and able to see first-hand where our dollars that we raise go."

Narvey adds, "We’re always looking for women to get involved. Obviously, we need to raise money for the community, but we also want people to volunteer their time."

On February 18th, Women's we had a program at the Simkin Centre called “Embracing Aging” which was aimed for women who are 50+. It included talks by the Simkin Centre’s Therapeutic Recreation Specialist, Spiritual Care Specialist and music therapist. The Simkin Centre is the newest agency supported by Jewish Federation of Winnipeg," notes Jacobson.

 In addition, on March 11th, Women's Philanthropy has a Program for parents with school age children. It will be held at Carrie Shenkarow’s home and features Dr. Cathy Moser who will be talking about Childhood Anxiety. On April 28th, the Lion of Judah Division is holding an event for women who donate $5,000 or more. It will feature Karen James who was a Jewish Olympic athlete at the Munich Olympics.

 "She now lives in Vancouver and has a fascinating story to tell about her experience. She will also be the guest speaker at our Women’s Philanthropy closing event the next evening on April 28th which will be open to all women donors in the Community, " says Jacobsohn.