By Richard Friedman, Executive Director

My wife Sally and I had a delightful experience over the New Year's weekend. Some out of town cousins came to Birmingham and we took a nice long walk with them on a beautiful morning.

As always with these cousins, we talked a lot about Jewish life. They were impressed to hear all that is going on in our community, especially regarding The Birmingham Jewish Federation's success in engaging young adults in Federation activities.

They were especially impressed with our "You Belong in Birmingham" project and, in particular, our success in drawing young people back to Birmingham and encouraging other young people to consider moving here. These cousins live in a strong Jewish community, but admitted they envy what we've been able to achieve here and the wonderful families that have kept our Jewish community going and growing over the years.

I thought a lot about the conversation with the two of them as the New Year's weekend continued and as tonight approached. Tonight will be a great night -- a turning point -- for The Birmingham Jewish Federation.

At 5:30 pm, BJF staffers Daniel Odrezin and Lauren Klinner will meet with the next generation of the Held-Nelson family. Veteran Jewish community volunteer leaders Ginger and Jerry Held will be chairing our 2013 BJF Campaign. Their son, Brian, son, Layne, and daughter, Elisa, along with Brian's wife, Katie, and Elisa's husband, Aaron, will be co-chairing the campaign.

Daniel, who works for us part-time and who will be joining our staff full-time in August after he graduates from University of Alabama law school, and Lauren, who has been a member of our staff for eight years, will meet with the younger family members to begin brainstorming about the 2013 campaign. Everyone in the meeting will be in their 20s or 30s -- and we anticipate lots of energy and new ideas coming out of their discussions.

Ginger and Jerry leading the campaign with the next generation of their family as their co-chairs is one more reflection of The BJF's new intergenerational leadership model which has paired seasoned community leaders with young up-and-comers. This model is one more reflection of a new movement at The BJF called LIFT -- Leadership Initiatives For Tomorrow.

NEW WRITING PROJECT

Immediately after the 5:30 pm meeting, participants in The BJF's new Leadership Writing Project will convene for the second in a series of workshops. The purpose of the project is to help emerging young leaders embrace and affirm their leadership voices through writing for Update and other media. Daniel will help lead the session.

Participating in the Leadership Writing Project are Hilary Gewant, Samantha Dubrinsky, Miriam Bleich, Amanda Weil, Brittany Saag, Nik Layman and Elisa Nelson. Veteran BJF volunteer leader Lisa Engel is serving as a resource.

One of the goals is to develop a new generation of Jewish voices; to make an impact not only in the Jewish community but also in the broader community. Already, as a result of their participation, pieces by Hilary have appeared in the Tuscaloosa News, Montgomery Advertiser and Alexander City Outlook, and a piece by Elisa ran in the Birmingham News. Each piece reflected their commitment to family, Jewish values and passion for The Birmingham Jewish Federation. Both Hilary and Elisa received much positive feedback, including great comments from readers who aren't Jewish.

Our Leadership Writing Project also is part of LIFT.

It's exciting that our first full working day of the new year will end with the two important gatherings highlighted above. The two coming together, as we start the year, already reflect what a great year it's going to be for The BJF. We are going to embrace the future with passion, focus on it with intensity and purpose, and lead our Federation and community into a new era, one rich with promise and possibilities.

So, stay tuned and keep reading Update -- there is so much ahead of us!

Operation Grassroots -- a Birmingham Jewish Federation effort to raise ONE THOUSAND new gifts or increases of at least $100 to access a $100,000 challenge gift is off to a great start.

A nice gift came in from a woman in her 20s, who grew up in Birmingham and who now lives in another state. She learned about Operation Grassroots on Facebook.

"I hope everything is going well in Birmingham," she wrote in a Facebook message. "I saw your post on Facebook, about needing to raise more gifts to The BJF to obtain the $100,000 challenge grant. I would love to make a donation to help reach the goal of getting 1000 gifts."

"I love reading all of your posts and seeing all the great things going on in the Birmingham Jewish community!" she added. We thank this young woman who grew up in a Birmingham family heavily involved in our Jewish community.

Operation Grassroots officially kicked off 12:01 AM Jan. 1st and everyone is welcome to participate. You can make your new gift or increase of at least $100 by going to one of the links below, contacting Tiffany Hyche at The BJF at 205-803-1513 or tiffanyh@bjf.org or calling our 24-Hour Operation Grassroots Hotline at 205-803-1514. You can also send a check made out to "BJF Operation Grassroots" to The Birmingham Jewish Federation, PO 130219, Birmingham, AL, 35213.

58 donors have already responded -- only 942 more to go! Through Operation Grassroots, we truly have an opportunity to make history. For our small Jewish community (only 1500 families), along with help from our friends, to raise 1000 new gifts or increases of at least $100 will be an achievement that will lift our organization for years to come.

Click to make an Operation Grassroots payment.

Click to make and Operation Grassroots pledge and be billed.