Koret Foundation

Dear Mrs. Koret,

We, the undersigned, are very disappointed in the decisions your organization has made. We have recently heard that the Koret Foundation has cut funds from the Lisa Kampner Hebrew Academy for the 2004-2005 school year. It is very disturbing for us to see a Jewish organization cut funds for the only orthodox Jewish school in San Francisco. In the past twenty seven years, the Lisa Kampner Hebrew Academy has accepted the highest number of children in the Bay Area from the former Soviet Union. It is unjust to fund non-Jewish organizations such as the Catholic-affiliated University of San Francisco with $2 million for a gymnasium, while completely withholding support from the Lisa Kampner Hebrew Academy, which needs the money to give scholarships to deserving kids. The Lisa Kampner Hebrew Academy’s students have always been very successful academically; its seniors are accepted to the top universities in the United States every year, from UC Berkeley and Stanford on the West Coast, to Princeton and Harvard on the East Coast. There are 60,000 members in the Russian community of San Francisco and we take it as a personal attack on us for you to stop supporting a Jewish school that consists of an 80% Russian-Jewish student body. We urge you to stand up for what is right, and not stand by idly watching a Jewish school struggle, when you have the ability to help. Thank you.