Fmr. New York politico talks on charity efforts

Although Ruth Messinger has taken on a lower profile in New York City politics since her loss in last year's mayoral race, her presence was certainly felt in the Hillel auditorium last night. Messinger, formerly president of the borough of Manhattan and now the president of the American Jewish World Service, spoke to students about the AJWS's mission: to define and enhance the role of American Jews as global citizens. The Women in Leadership Series and Tzedek Hillel co-sponsored the lecture, entitled "Jews as Global Citizens." Messinger explained that while throughout her career she has worked at the local level, she has recently redirected her focus towards global issues. AJWS, she explained to her audience, is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing humanitarian assistance, technical support and emergency relief to people in need in various countries throughout the world. The organization typifies the "Jewish commitment to the pursuit of social justice that includes the responsibility of responding to needs of the other, the stranger," Messinger added, "because these are the ways of peace." The purpose of AJWS is to provide relief and aid in the redevelopment of communities in foreign countries in the wake of natural disasters by identifying grassroots project partners and providing these groups with money, technical support and, very often, skilled volunteers. During the talk, Messinger showed the audience slides of different countries to which AJWS has contributed. Messinger said she believes that the services AJWS provides are more valuable than ever due to the development of a global economy and the fact that the problems of poverty, poor health and hunger are intensifying. Over one billion people in the world are in poverty and 35,000 children die from it each day -- the equivalent of a 747 plane full of children crashing every 20 minutes, Messinger noted. However, the organization does try to focus on helping people help themselves. AJWS gives loans to individuals to enable them to become self-sufficient and return income to their communities. Messinger believes college students in particular have a responsibility to uphold justice and become actively involved in global affairs. After the talk, students generally said they thought Messinger was advocating a worthwhile cause. "[We brought Messinger] to show people how they might get involved," said Ben Schein, a College senior and fellow of Tzedek Hillel. "We wanted to bring in a powerful Jewish leader who has influence."