PJ Library spaces filled; additional funding sought

More than 250 area families have enrolled their young children in the Jewish Federation's new PJ Library program, according to Penina Hoffnung, Director of Federation's Department of Jewish Education and Continuity (DJE). With more than 20 families already on a waiting list, donors are being sought to support PJ Library for 2009 and beyond.

Coordinated by DJE, the program provides a Jewish children's book or a Jewish parenting book once a month for a year to participating families. All books are selected for the child's age and in keeping with the Jewish calendar.

The program is the brainchild of Jewish entrepreneurial philanthropist Harold Grinspoon, and was brought to Southern New Jersey through a grant from the Grinspoon Foundation. Additional support was provided locally from the Raymond & Gertrude R. Saltzman Foundation, the Jewish Community Foundation, Inc., and local philanthropists Steve and Lynny Ravitz and Elaine Samson.

According to the program grant, Federation can enroll 250 children this year, an additional 150 children next year, and up to a total of 500 children in the succeeding years.

"We were deluged by responses," said Karen Chast, PJ Library staff coordinator. Twenty percent of those who signed up for PJ Library are families that had no previous relationships with the Jewish Federation. Many come from towns in the tri-county area with small Jewish populations, helping to achieve Federation's program objective to serve as a significant outreach tool to new families.

The DJE is now working with area Jewish communal organizations to increase programming for the PJ Library participants. Plans include a spring Pre-Passover event and creation of a guide to Jewish Southern New Jersey for young families. Cong. Beth El in Voorhees and the Jewish Centering Department of the Katz JCC are planning story times that will coordinate with the books the PJ Library program distributes.

Additional resources are needed so that the program can grow and become permanent fixture in the community.

"We understand the challenges of our current economic times, but this program is such a joy," said Hoffnung. "We hope that local visionaries will follow in the footsteps of our 'PJ pioneers' and support it."

Sponsorships begin at the "minyan" level of $600 per year with a minimum three-year commitment. This contribution will fund 10 young children in the program—the smallest number of people needed to form a functioning Jewish community according to Jewish tradition.

For more information about becoming a PJ Library sponsor, please call Penina Hoffnung at 751-9500, ext. 208 or e-mail phoffnung@jfedsnj.org. .