Over the course of 20 years, there have been many milestones at Emet Outreach. Two weeks ago, the organization held their largest Charidy campaign to date and were successful in raising over 1.4 million dollars. “We are grateful. This would not have been possible without the unwavering support of our devoted students, alumni, community partners, family, and friends,” said Rabbi Akiva Rutenberg, Emet Co-Founder & CEO. “Baruch Hashem, the funds raised will enable our team to continue to reach more unaffiliated college students, young adults, and young couples with the beauty of Torah and Mitzvot.”
The theme of the campaign was “Emet 20 Years Strong: Stronger Than Ever Together.” Emet has literally grown stronger alongside the over 7500 students and alumni they have inspired along the way. Today, Emet has 4 divisions and 25 weekly programs run by 12 full-time dynamic Jewish educators. There is literally non-stop learning and programming every month.
There was a real feeling of partnership and achdus during the campaign. Emet invited the community to a team rally in advance and to their campaign headquarters to join in their efforts. “At Emet, we are one family, and together we have become a stronger community,” Rabbi Nissim Musheyev, Director of Community Development, said. “We are thankful for the many people who came out for Emet.” Even if they couldn’t be there in person, people shared countless messages on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. There were 296 teams and almost 3000 individual donors!
With Hashem’s help, and due to the support shown for the 20th Anniversary campaign, the Emet team looks forward to the next decade of growing stronger together. In addition to allowing Emet to increase their base programming with more mentoring, educators, classes, events, Shabbatons and transformative trips, they plan to expand their introductory Leaders Fellowships and presence on college campuses. Rabbi Rutenberg explained, “Now more than ever, we need to remain steadfast in our Judaism to overcome the challenges on college campuses and in the world at large. By continuing to unite and draw strength from one another, we will strengthen the future.”
