Help us ensure Jewish
tomorrows for our
Kol Ami community!
Kol Ami was selected to participate in the LIFE & LEGACY program sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. All donated funds are managed by SEI Investments in an endowment fund that is earmarked for Kol Ami. We promised to use only the interest (earnings) and keep the principal intact for years to come.
A gift of any amount matters. Whether you give a few shekels or a few thousand, your after-lifetime gift is an important legacy for our future generations.
Examples of Gifts:
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Retirement Plan Beneficiary
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Life Insurance Beneficiary
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Sale of Property, stock, art, or other assets
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Bequest in a Will
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Trust Beneficiary
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Cash gift
Thank you for your support and your commitment to benefit those who follow you.
Your LIFE & LEGACY team
"When I was younger, I looked for a place to worship. My family wasn’t especially religious, so I would attend various services with family and friends..."
-Sherri Feldman
Being from Texas, the services I attended were mainly Christian. I ended up joining a Catholic church in high-school but didn’t really feel a deep connection with the church or the faith.
When I met my husband, who is Jewish by birth, I started to explore the Jewish faith a bit more. I loved the basis of it and felt it was more in line with what I believed. We were married by a Rabbi (even though I had not converted) and I vowed to raise my children in the Jewish faith.
I had two daughters and when I felt they were old enough, we looked for a place to belong. We found Congregation Kol Ami mainly because it was 2 miles away from where we lived. We stayed because they welcomed us fully. I found a place to take my daughters which would give them a basis for their religion. The congregation also didn’t mind that I wasn’t Jewish (I have not converted – yet).
I am so glad that I found and now belong to a place where I can go for fellowship and G-d. I wanted to honor that by giving back to the community that has given so much to me. Instead of an end of life gift, I am giving now to the Life & Legacy Program. Even if my contribution may be a small one, I know over time it will grow and provide a source of income to help sustain this wonderful group. I am helping to make it possible for others that are like me to find a place to be welcomed in the future.
"In 2012, my wife, Vivian, and I relocated to Redmond from New York to be near our son and his family. We knew that we had to find a congregation to join that would work for both families..."
-Jeff Grossman
I had never given much thought to what it takes for a congregation to exist. I just assumed that there would always be a place for us to join, to celebrate holidays, to honor long gone family members and to provide a Jewish education for the next generation. I finally realized that CKA was there for my family only because of those who had gone before and laid the groundwork. One generation provides for the next.
We joined one, stayed as members for about a year, and realized it just wasn’t right. We joined another for two years and did not have a great experience. We found Kol Ami and felt welcome right away. CKA has met the needs of all three generations of Grossman’s. Our older grandson, Jake, became Bar Mitzvah at Kol Ami in 2016 and Spencer will do the same in 2019.
I had never given much thought to what it takes for a congregation to exist. I just assumed that there would always be a place for us to join, to celebrate holidays, to honor long gone family members and to provide a Jewish education for the next generation.
I finally realized that CKA was there for my family only because of those who had gone before and laid the groundwork. One generation provides for the next.
The viability of a congregation is the commitment of its current membership to look ahead and plan for the future.
We have been given a means to do this by our participation in the Life and Legacy Program.
Annual dues and generous donations barely cover expenses and don’t provide for the future.To that end, the L&L program has enabled us to begin an endowment for Kol Ami’s future. The concept is simple: make a commitment to provide for Kol Ami in your end-of-life plans.
Make a commitment that we, the current generation, will make provisions for the next generation, and the next, that CKA will be there for them as it was for us. L’dor v’dor.
"Our participation in the Life & Legacy program is a natural outcome of our decision to be a Jewish family..."
-Robert and Catherine Clark
We made that decision almost 50 years ago prior to our marriage. This led to Cathy's conversion and our marriage in the Temple in California where I grew up.
We came to Richland in eastern Washington in 1976. Knowing no one, we sought our first friends by joining the small 50-family congregation serving the Tri-Cities, where we were warmly welcomed.
After moving to southeast King County in 1985 (what is now Covington), we joined the closest temple, which was Beth El in Tacoma, where our children started religious school. We moved to the Woodinville area thirty years ago and joined Northshore Jewish Community, the predecessor to Kol Ami.
After a DIY bat mitzvah for our daughter, we subsequently joined B'nai Torah in Bellevue for the B'nai Mitzvah resources.
After 20 years and Rabbi Mirel's retirement, we followed Rabbi Kinberg to Congregation Kol Ami in Woodinville. The smaller community at Kol Ami has provided friends and a chance for us to become active in the temple.
Through the years, we have always supported Jewish institutions. When the opportunity came to participate in the Life & Legacy program, there was no hesitancy. We want to make sure that congregations like Kol Ami are available for future generations and continue to thrive.