Jewish Federation Raises an Estimated $4.6 Million

An estimated 2,000 volunteers staffing phone banks at three Southland locations Sunday raised about $4.6 million for the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, a spokeswoman said.

“This is the kickoff of our annual campaign,” Deborah Dragon, the federation’s vice president for public relations, said of the annual event known as Super Sunday.

“This is the start of our yearlong campaign to raise funds for our activities.”

Buoyed by the presence of state and city officials, mayoral candidates and a sprinkling of actors, the volunteers -- working in three shifts between 9:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. -- reached about 50,000 potential donors from phones set up at sites in the L.A. Basin, Torrance and the San Fernando Valley.

A preliminary count at 9:30 p.m., Dragon said, showed the kickoff event raised $4.6 million, “slightly ahead” of where they had been at the same time last year -- a modest growth trend consistent with previous years.

The Federation, Los Angeles’ largest Jewish nonprofit organization, funds projects locally, in Israel and around the world.

This year’s effort, Dragon said, did not seem to have been hurt by the recent tsunami relief drive, for which the federation raised about $450,000.

Nor, she said, did it appear to have been helped by recent positive developments in the Middle East which, for the first time in years, hold the prospect of peace.

“I don’t think the Middle East has an effect on our campaign,” Dragon said. “I feel that people are hopeful, and that’s very exciting, but what we’re funding is not political. It’s social and humanitarian, and those needs will always be around.”