After-life donation program comes to Hartford
Goal is to help nonprofits battered by COVID-19
HARTFORD — The Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Hartford is bringing the Life and Legacy program to the city for the first time with hopes of guaranteeing a promise toward the future.
The program that’s based on after-life donations has seen nationwide success with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation and the JCF is hoping that it’ll translate to the Hartford area and the Jewish community as well.
“We’re keeping our face in the future. We have this saying, which is not only Jewish but you know, my grandfather planted a tree for me when I was young, and now that I’m older and that tree is fully grown, I can eat the fruits from that tree,” Jacob Schreiber, CEO of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Hartford. said. “So my grandfather planted for me, I’m gonna plant for my grandchildren.”
Fourteen Jewish organizations are participating in the program, including Voice of Hope in Farmingnot been located, state law mandates a seven-year waiting period to declare a missing person dead.
Hug asked Daly to override that state law last year and declare Farber Dulos legally dead years early so that her late husband’s estate could access the retirement account in question, but Daly balked at the request and concluded she would need to hear testimony from investigators and the medical examiner’s office about the likelihood of Farber Dulos’ death before she could issue a ruling. ton, Temple of Beth Hillel in South Windsor and Mandell Jewish Community Center in West Hartford.
“The interesting thing is while organizations are still struggling, as we all are, there is enough faith in the future,” Schreiber said.
The agreement and stipulations filed by Hug with the court Wednesday would instead allow Daly to rule Fotis Dulos’ estate could access those funds without needing to declare Farber Dulos dead, Hug wrote in the filing, thereby avoiding both the difficult legal question and high-profile hearing.
The next hearing before Daly is scheduled for the afternoon of April 1 at Farmington Town Hall.
Despite Dulos’ death, criminal cases charges are still pending this spring against his former girlfriend
“There is still that commitment for us to provide meaningful Jewish continuity to our children and grandchildren. And one of the best ways to do that is to do this is through building endowments.”
The Life and Legacy program gives Jewish organizations an opportunity to go through a campaign which won’t raise many funds to use now, but “will provide them a lot of money in 20 years if the campaign is successful,” Schreiber said.
One of the organizations that was hit hard by the pandemic was the Mandell JCC.
Providing an outlet to the Jewish and non-Jewish community, the JCC in West Hartford provided fitness classes, preschool and different events, including a Jewish Film Festival. With COVID-19, the organization particularly struggled, Schreiber said.
“It’s a place where people gather and since people are
Michelle Troconis and associate Kent Mawhinney, both of whom have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder in connection with Farber Dulos’ disappearance. Troconis also has been charged with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.
Both have pleaded not guilty to those charges and are due back in Superior Court in Stamford in May and June, court records show. not gathering, it’s really hard for them to make ends meet,” he said.
Almost overnight on March 13, 2020, the JCC had to adjust an $11 million budget to around $6 million, said David Jacobs, the executive director of the West Hartford JCC.
“What’s helped in hope is the fact that we, and the other institutions in our community, did everything we could to stay vibrant and stay meaningful,” Jacobs said. “This challenged every nonprofit in our community to reinvent themselves and to reimagine themselves so that they could continue to deliver on their missions.”
The JCC, like many organizations, had to get creative about providing services back to their community. And to its surprise, when the organization went virtual, it saw an expansion in participation and the community.
“We realized the JCC is more than a place, it’s an idea and it’s something that can be transmitted in different ways,” Jacobs said. “Over time we started seeing thousands and thousands of hits, and where we could once have an exercise class of 20 people, now there could be 50 or 100 people in it.”
By organizations finding solutions to stay connected, it translated to their community, making people realize they could do more than they thought, Jacobs said.
“I think when people realize that they can do something, that they didn’t think they could do or that they’ve given up on, and all the sudden they can do it again, is where we begin to feel hope,” Jacobs said.
For more information on the Hartford Life and Legacy program, contact Elana MacGiplin at emacgilpin@jcfhartford.org or call 860-209-3311.