Jewish Federations across the country are raising funds to support communities and individuals in Houston, San Antonio, Galveston, Corpus Christi and other areas that have been hammered by Hurricane Harvey. With record breaking volumes of rain having fallen through the weekend and expected to continue through tomorrow, extensive damage is continuing to mount.

Last summer, 13-year-old Sam Heller took a trip to Europe with his family that affected him in a way that he couldn’t have imagined.

The Jewish Federation of Cleveland joins Jewish Federations across North America to raise funds to help address the impact of over 200 fires raging across Israel, which have already displaced nearly 100,000 people. In many places, essential services such as electricity and train lines have been interrupted. Many major roads have been closed intermittently.

The theme of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s 2017 Campaign for Jewish Needs is inspiration, and David F. Adler, new general campaign chair, said he hopes the Cleveland Jewish community will be inspired to come together to do more in meeting its needs.

Relentless flooding has devastated southern Louisiana, now a federal disaster area.

Ed Singer has a strong emotional attachment to Lansing Cemetery, in Cleveland’s Slavic Village, as he has about 16 relatives buried there – including his parents and both sets of grandparents.

In just over one year, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland has raised close to $2.8 million for its Cemetery Preservation Campaign, putting them just $700k short of a $3.5 million goal to preserve Cleveland’s older Jewish cemeteries. The Federation asks all who are interested to donate to the community-wide campaign at www.jewishcleveland.org/cemetery.

The city of Houston and nine surrounding counties were hit this week with extensive flooding, including areas where the Jewish community is concentrated. One to two feet of rain fell in a very short time, completely overwhelming bayous and streams in the area and rain is continuing to fall. It is expected that the damage will surpass the range and severity of last year’s Memorial Day weekend flood.