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  According to Jewish tradition, the highest form of tzedakah, or charity, is to donate to a community fund, or kupah. Whether your donation is in the form of community service hours, survival materials or a monetary donation, it all helps to strengthen and build our community at large.

  The Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region, and their overseas beneficiaries, work with a broad set of national and international institutes that span the world to provide relief, rescue, and reconstruction. The federation system is dedicated to inspiring community members to secure the financial and human resources necessary to achieve the mission of caring for those in need, without discrimination. That includes supporting victims of natural disasters and assisting refugees from war-torn countries.

Most recently, the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region has been at the forefront of relief and aide sent to the victims of the Haiti earthquake in the form of monetary donations. The Jewish Federation has partnered with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) to provide urgently needed aide and relief to victims of the devastating earthquake.

  A reputable source of community giving that benefits the world locally and globally, the Sacramento Federation has been a driving force in providing aid overseas. Take a look at the many projects and forms of aide that Federation has taken part of in the past:

* Federation donors provide assistance to victims of natural disasters through UJC rescue and relief mailboxes. That includes assistance to victims of the earthquakes in Turkey, Armenia and Columbia, and hurricanes Georges and Mitch in the Caribbean.

* The federation supported UJC Kosovo Relief Fund, which raised $3.5 million provided humanitarian relief for Kosovar refugees, helped repair and reopen 15 elementary schools, and distributed posters warning children about the dangers of land mines. Through the Jewish Agency for Israel, UJC provided resettlement and relief, including 11 planeloads of goods: 100 tons of medicine, blankets, tents, clothing and other basics.

* In Bosnia-Herzegovina, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee., with support from federations, rescued more than 2,100 Jews, Muslims and Christians from war-torn Sarajevo. Thousands of food packages and 60% of the available medications were distributed free of charge on a non-sectarian basis by the federation-supported Sarajevo Jewish community.

* In Albania, federation support enabled one of the few winterized refugee camps to house the conflict's most vulnerable refugees, and provided bedding and mattresses to 23,000 refugees, recreational kits for over 10,000 children, and arranged for the services of physicians and nurses.

* In Ethiopia, the JDC, with funds provided by the federation system, provided full-scale medical, social and educational services to 15,000 Jews in Addis Ababa, maintaining their health and morale until they were airlifted to Israel by JAFI's 1999 Operation Solomon. In 1999, JAFI brought 2,300 more Ethiopian Jews, 1,400 from Quara, to Israel, all supported by Jewish federations.

* In the former Soviet Union, over 205,000 needy elderly are receiving some kind of assistance from the federations of North America through JDC. In 1999, JDC delivered more than 960,000 food packages, provided four million hot meals, supplied 44,000 clients with fuel, clothing and blankets, loaned more than 26,000 pieces of medical equipment, and mobilized nearly 10,500 welfare volunteers.

* In Morocco, through JDC, the UJA Federation Annual Campaign of United Jewish Communities provides food, clothing, shelter, health care, and Jewish cultural and recreational activities to the most vulnerable of Morocco's Jews.

* In 1999, 411 young Jews from war-ravaged Yugoslavia participated in a two-week pilot trip to Israel developed by JAFI, with funds from federations. Participants were invited to remain in Israel while exploring study opportunities and immigration options. 135 chose to stay.

To donate to the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region's Haiti Relief Fund or community campaign, please visit www.jewishsac.org