H eadlines
Name: American Friends of Magen David
Width: 5.5 in
Depth: 11 in
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Comment: JE 3/25
Ad Number: 00093590
Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90
Hank Butler (top) and Robin Schatz discuss how the American Rescue
Plan will impact Pennsylvania. 
Screenshots by Sophie Panzer
2021, that can be signed and
sent at JewishTogether.org.

Stephan Kline, associate vice
president for public policy, said
non-public schools, including
Jewish day schools, are eligible
for a total of $5.5 billion from
ARP and the COVID-19 relief
bill that passed in December.

Schools are eligible if they
enroll a significant percentage
of low-income students and
can show they are among
the schools most impacted
by the crisis. The money will
be administered by state
Departments of Education.

Darcy Hirsh,
director of government affairs, said
emergency food and shelter
programs are getting $510
million in all, which will be
administered by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency
to a nationwide network of 14,000
local emergency food and shelter
boards and state committees.

Hirsh said $50 billion will go
to improve access to child care
through grants to low-income
families and grants for child
care centers that lost money
and resources due to lack of
enrollment. She urged anyone
interested in applying to reach
out to their state Department
of Social Services.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM At a Jewish Federation of
Greater Philadelphia community
meeting on March 19, Montgomery
County Commissioner Ken
Lawrence Jr. said his county will
receive $161 million from the relief
package. Lawrence Jr. said a large
portion of the money will go to
food distribution, particularly
for students missing free meals
they would normally receive at
school, and vaccinations. Some
will go to help small businesses
and nonprofits with the costs
of closures.

Money will be allocated to
address issues that have been
worsened by the health crisis,
such as homelessness and
addiction. Hank Butler, executive
director of the Pennsylvania
Jewish Coalition,
said Pennsylvania received $13 billion
from the rescue package, with
$5.7 billion allocated to local
governments and $2.5 billion
used to address government
deficits. The state legislature is
still debating how to use the
remaining $4.8 billion, although
Butler said the vaccine rollout
would be the highest priority. l
This Passover, help us
make it possible to celebrate
another kind of freedom.

Freedom from a pandemic.

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage around the
world, there’s reason for hope. And no country has offered more
hope for what life might be like again than Israel, which has led
the world in immunizing its people.

Magen David Adom, Israel’s paramedic and Red Cross service,
has played a major role in this success. MDA has treated tens
of thousands of stricken Israelis, administered Covid tests to
more than 4 million, and vaccinated Israel’s most vulnerable
populations, including all its nursing home residents.

When you support Magen David Adom, your gift has an
immediate impact in helping Israelis — today and every day.

Make a gift today. Pesach kasher v’sameach.

afmda.org/passover spanzer@jewishexponent.com;
215-832-0729 JEWISH EXPONENT
MARCH 25, 2021
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