West Bloomfield, MI – Friendship Circle Rabbi: Vos Iz Neias Story Inspired Our Winning Campaign

West Bloomfield, MI – After an intense campaign, West Bloomfield Friendship Circle placed fourth in the JP Morgan Chase Bank Community Giving Project, walking away with a $100,000 grant. Rabbi Levi Shemtov, founder of the organization which provides assistance and support to the families of children with special needs, read about the contest on Vos Iz Neias and decided to throw his hat into the proverbial ring.

Rabbi Shemtov sent the Vos Iz Neias article to a few staff members and his wife and asked them if they thought The Friendship Circle should enter the contest. Within two hours, the vote was unanimous and The Friendship Circle began planning their strategy. While they did not win the grand prize of $1,000,000, the Friendship Circle will receive a total of $125,000 from Chase. In Rabbi Shemtov’s own words when he spoke with VIN News, “All this came from a story on Vos iz Neias, who gave us great publicity.”

The contest, which began in November took place entirely on Facebook, with the top 100 vote getters each receiving a $25,000 prize. The winners then had one month to prepare their strategy for the second round. The Friendship Circle of West Bloomfield reached out to the frum community for their help and news spread like wildfire. The frum community rallied to come to the aid of The Friendship Circles and all told, they received 59,023 votes, the only Jewish non-profit to make it to the final round of voting – placed fourth in the competition.

When asked what can be learned from this contests and the results, Rabbi Shemtov told VIN News, “It’s a fact lesson. Baruch Hashem, the Yiddishe community looks out for each other. Mosdos are not selfish. A lot of other Jewish organizations sent out mailings for us and enabled us to get as far as we got.”

Above all, he said, the grants will strengthen the Friendship Circle’s mission to show the world that people with special needs “have the most unique souls and teach all of us to look inside, rather than at the outside of a person.”