Mayanot Hosts US Philanthropist

The Mayanot Women’s Program hosted American philanthropist Mrs. Myra Kraft Sunday, who spoke about her lifelong involvement in philanthropic organizations including the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston, of which she was the first woman and Jew to be elected chairman.

Kraft, whose father was involved in the UJA (a predecessor of the Jewish Federations of North America) and the JDC in the mid 1940’s, says that her social awareness and desire to give came at an early age when she heard about these organizations’ efforts to help the Jews of Europe and Eretz Yisrael. “At the time, I took a paper bag and went around to the neighbors and collected money for the children of Israel,” she says. “That was my first venture into feeling passionately about something and doing something about it.”

Kraft encouraged the students of Mayanot to be active in causes, both within the Jewish and wider communities. “To actually go out and do the work is really important. If you believe in something then you need to convince people and talk to your friends and try and get them interested.”

Photos: Ada’s Photography