This summer we were fortunate to partner with our local synagogues and agencies to create and present two successful community-wide events: the Israel solidarity event and the Rich Recht concert.

Federation now invites everyone in the community to our 2015 Campaign Kickoff Event, which will take place on Thursday, Oct. 23, 7 p.m. at River Garden. Led by our campaign leadership – Sandy Zimmerman, Jen Plotkin and Andrew Jaffa – we look forward to welcoming our outstanding guest speaker, Dr. William Recant, disaster relief expert and assistant executive vice president of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Will is a good friend, an internationally recognized professional and a terrific speaker.

A highlight of the evening will be the presentations by Federation president, Hal Resnick, of our leadership awards to Michael DuBow, recipient of the Joe P. Safer Community Service Award; and Nancy Davis and Daniel Miller, who will receive the Ilene Sari Selevan Young Leadership Awards.

While there is no minimum gift requirement for attendance at the Campaign Kickoff Event, we all will have the opportunity to make our pledges for the 2015 annual campaign.

During these most important High Holidays, it is natural for us to take a look at our lives and count our blessings. As members of this Jewish community, we are blessed with a special infrastructure of organizations making this a wonderful place in which to live and raise our families. Federation is proud to work in partnership with the Jewish Community Foundation of Northeast Florida, Jewish Community Alliance, Jewish Family & Community Services, River Garden Senior Services, Martin J. Gottlieb Day School and the Torah Academy of Jacksonville. We also touch the lives of many of our teens and college-age young people through our funding of the Joan Levin Gift of Israel Program, Birthright Israel and the MASA Israel Experience programs.

Over the course of the past 10 years, we have provided over $8 million to these organizations and programs. Your gifts to our annual campaign have made this a reality.

Your Federation gifts also allow us to provide invaluable support for our international partners, the Jewish Agency for Israel, the JDC and World ORT.

There are life-saving services provided every day to our fellow Jews living in over 70 countries throughout the world because of the Jewish Federation's support of these outstanding international agencies. It is a direct result of the dollars received from the annual campaign that the agencies were in place and prepared to deliver the emergency services this summer during the Stop the Sirens campaign.

I share all of this with you as I encourage everyone to join us for the Campaign Kickoff Event on Oct. 23!

Once again wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year and a meaningful fast this Shabbat.

-Alan Margolies, Federation Executive Director