Israeli lawmakers, Bar-Ilan University officials, The Russell Berrie Foundation leadership and some 100 representatives of communities throughout Israel’s northern Galilee region gathered on November 16 to celebrate the official launch of The Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE: a $75 million effort to reduce healthcare disparities and transform diabetes care in the region. According to The Times of Israel, Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz said the initiative will “address one of the most difficult health problems in the north.” Knesset member Idit Silman, the coalition whip, said diabetes was “a top priority for the government,” declaring: “Tonight, a major effort to reduce morbidity rates and to become a leader in the field of diabetes begins.” Silman hailed the comprehensive, interdisciplinary nature of the effort, which will bring together a broad spectrum of healthcare providers, researchers, community leaders, NGOs and more. “This is the connection we need between academia and the field,” she said.

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The Russell Berrie Foundation and the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine of Bar-Ilan University are announcing the creation of The Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE, a program designed to reduce healthcare disparities and transform diabetes care in Israel’s socioeconomically disadvantaged northern Galilee region. The holistic, comprehensive effort will also spur innovations in diabetes treatment and prevention that can be applied around the world, as diabetes rates continue to rise. One million Israelis are expected to be diagnosed with the disease by 2040, a disproportionate number of them from the Galilee. “The Russell Berrie Galilee Diabetes SPHERE draws on Israel’s unparalleled expertise in healthcare innovation to change the landscape for future generations,” said Angelica Berrie.

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The Russell Berrie Foundation is proud to share a new report on economic development in Israel’s North, which we commissioned to better understand why change has been slow to come to this diverse region despite years of investment by the Israeli government, philanthropists and others. “Application Model for Regional Economic Development,” prepared by longtime grantee JDC-ELKA in consultation with on-the-ground experts, offers pragmatic insights on what’s worked, what hasn’t and why. Available in English and Hebrew, it brings fresh thinking to the question of how to effect change across a region—by building connective tissue and networking opportunities to tackle challenges that go beyond the capabilities of individual local authorities. The report provides a toolkit to help funders and other stakeholders have a greater impact and achieve meaningful advancement in Israel’s North and other geographical regions (in Israel and elsewhere in the world).

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Twenty-four of New Jersey’s most inspiring “unsung heroes” were honored on May 7 at a virtual ceremony, as we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Russ Berrie Making a Difference Award. Among the honorees: Dionisio Cucuta, Jr., who created a robust volunteer-based food distribution program during the pandemic; Kim Gaddy (pictured), whose tenacious advocacy for environmental justice on behalf of communities of color led New Jersey to adopt some of the country’s strongest environmental justice legislation; and Anthony Capuano, who braved freezing November waters to rescue a driver whose car had sunk into the Newark Bay. Speaking at the online ceremony, Angelica Berrie, president of The Russell Berrie Foundation, said that the 300 individuals honored over the past quarter-century embodied her late husband’s entrepreneurial approach to solving life’s problems. “Like him, they weren’t afraid to go where others feared to tread,” she said. “They were not afraid to be pioneers.”

MEET THE HONOREES

Dionisio Cucuta, Jr., who responded to the devastating food insecurity brought on by the pandemic by creating a robust volunteer-based food distribution program, is the top winner of this year’s Russ Berrie Making a Difference Award. Please join us at a virtual ceremony on May 7 at 11:30 a.m. to honor Cucuta and 23 other remarkable individuals, who went above and beyond to help others overcome 2020’s challenges. We will also mark the 25th anniversary of the Award, which the late entrepreneur Russell Berrie created to honor New Jersey’s unsung heroes and, in telling their stories, inspire others to step up in similar ways. Winners receive well-deserved public recognition and cash prizes of up to $50,000.

READ ABOUT THE 2021 HONOREES

The Russell Berrie Foundation is proud to partner with the Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah, the Jim Joseph Foundation and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies to support Collecting These Times: an effort to chronicle how American Jews have experienced the pandemic. Collecting These Times’ interactive website connects Jewish and other institutions nationwide that are gathering materials that speak to life during the pandemic. The site makes it easy for people to contribute images, videos, oral histories and other materials to relevant collecting projects, and for researchers to explore the pandemic’s impact on a diverse array of American Jewish communities. “Collecting these stories now, as we are living through it, helps inform our future,” Angelica Berrie tells The Jewish Standard. “It’s a way to help communities of the future think about their own resilience.”

READ THE JEWISH STANDARD ARTICLE

“As daunting a burden as the COVID-19 pandemic is by itself, it also magnifies racial inequality and other societal fissures,” Angelica Berrie writes in a Star-Ledger guest column. “Challenging times like these can be softened by extraordinary individuals who see a need and step up.” Five years before his death, she writes, “my husband Russell Berrie created a way to salute New Jersey’s unsung heroes—everyday people who, over the course of a lifetime, or in the flash of a moment, made their neighborhood, community, state or society as a whole a better, safer, healthier place.” Nominations for the 2021 Russ Berrie Making a Difference Award are open until Feb. 12.

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Do you know an unsung hero from New Jersey who responded to the challenges of the past year by finding ways to make a difference in others’ lives? Nominations are now open for the 2021 Russ Berrie Making a Difference Award, which honors those who break down barriers, correct injustices and otherwise make New Jersey a better place to live, work and raise a family. Founded by Russ Berrie in 1997, the award includes well-deserved public recognition as well as cash prizes of $50,000, $25,000 and $7,500 for up to ten extraordinary individuals. The deadline for nominations is February 12.

NOMINATE AN UNSUNG HERO

Even as Yiddish the proverb “Man plans, God laughs” has resonated, 2020 also drove home the profound importance of thoughtful planning, conducted with a view toward the future and in close collaboration with partners on the ground, writes our CEO, Ruth Salzman. “As humans seeking to make a difference in the world, all we can do is plan,” she writes. “When we invest in initiatives that combine good planning with pragmatic and effective execution capability, our grantees are positioned to pivot with agility when the world shifts beneath our feet.”

READ THE FULL LETTER HERE