Jewelers for Children: The Industry's Charity

The Jewelers for Children (JFC) website makes for a happy-sad read. Sadness over the stories portraying children who  are  dealing with  the most  terrible diseases and conditions that no chi ld should ever have  to  suffer  from;  and  a measure  of  happiness because  there  is  a  tremendous  amount  of  help coming from the jewelry industry to alleviate some of this suffering.

Stories, on the site include that of four-year-old Brooklyn who was born with osteopetrosis, an extremely rare bone disease that kills 70 percent of children afflicted with it by the age of six, and almost 100 percent by the age of ten. Brooklyn is one of the lucky ones. She received a bone marrow transplant at the world-famous St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, one of many organizations that JFC helps fund.

Another story is of Jonalya, a seven-year-old who was born with HIV. Her greatest wish was to become a firefighter. With the help of JFC and   the Make-A-Wish  Foundation  of  America,  her  dream  came true when  Jonalya  joined a  fire crew  in Southern Florida. Her wish is just one of more than 900 that JFC has helped to fulfill.

Since its inception in 1999, JFC has donated more than $28 million to programs benefiting children whose lives have been affected by catastrophic illness and life-threatening abuse and neglect.

The charity was  founded by a group of people representing  some  of  the  industry’s  major manufacturers,  retailers  and  organizations: Terry  Burman  of  Sterling,  Jonathan  Goldman of Frederick Goldman, Victor Weinman of Tache USA,  Dana  Duneier  of  Clyde  Duneier,  Leslie Mann of Sears, Roebuck & Co. , Eric Austein of Treasurer, Matthew Runci of Jewelers of America, Dennis McDonald of JCK Shows, Jeff Comment of Helzberg Diamonds, Robert DiNicola of Zale, Matthew  Fortgang  of  M.  Fabrikant  &  Sons, Michael Paolercio of Michael Anthony Jewelers, Stanley Pollack of G.M. Pollack & Sons and Elliot Tannenbaum of Leo Schachter Diamonds.

Today, rather than comprising a disparate group of  individuals  giving  to  a number of different charities, JFC has blossomed into a 60-member board and donates mi l lions of dollars each year to specific charities, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation/Glaser  Pediatric  Research  Network, St.  Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the National CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) Association.  These four charities are the Legacy Charities of JFC, though other organizations also receive help from the foundation.

Although the organization is American-based, JFC helps children internationally. One of these programs is managed  through  the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS  Foundation  (EGPAF),  which,  with  funding from  JFC,  is  supporting  prevention  of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) in four of the six states  designated as high  prevalence areas by the Indian government. JFC is also starting to organize programs in South Africa.
 

The major fundraising effort of JFC takes place during JCK Las Vegas at the Facets of Hope dinner, which raised $5 million for the foundation’s charities in 2007, according to David Rocha, JFC’s executive director. This huge sum was raised via sponsorship packages, underwriters, a commemorative advertising journal and the tickets to the event itself, which went for about $500, with more than 2,200 attendees.

At the 2007 Facets of Hope dinner, it was announced that each of the legacy charities would receive $1 million each to fund their activities. An additional $275,000 was awarded to the Jason program to fund the Jewelers for Children Gems of Care program, $200,000 to the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation, $50,000 to the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps, $50,000 to Autism Speaks and $35,000 to the Santa-America Fund, which provides for visits from Santa and his elves to sick children. A further $300,000 was set aside for a project in Africa and/or India, to be identified at a later date.

Taking just one of the legacy charities – St.  Jude – it is clear how important JFC’s donations are. Says Amy Morris, a representative from St. Jude, the institution's daily operating costs are $1,267,349, which are primarily covered by public contributions. Since 1999, JFC has donated more than $9 million to the hospital. In 2005, it pledged $5 million over seven years to benefit Immune System Regeneration research at the hospital. St. Jude also benefited from JFC’s generosity with its $600,000 endowment of the Bone Marrow Transplant Clinic and Stem Cell Transplantation Laboratory and a $2 million donation for a chair in St. Jude’s Genetics and Gene Therapy department.

Each year, St. Jude patients who have benefited from the generosity of JFC attend and speak at the Facets of Hope Dinner in Las Vegas. St. Jude patients Abby and Jessica attended the event in 2003 to accept the check on behalf of the hospital. “If it weren’t for generous, caring hearts like yours, organizations like St.  Jude would not be able to carry on their groundbreaking work, and I would not have been given the opportunity to pursue my dreams and goals,” Jessica told the JFC attendees. “I believe that I am cancer-free today because of my faith, the support of my family, the very special people at St. Jude, and because of people like you.”

Says Morris, “With the help of partners such as JFC, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital strives to one day fulfill Danny Thomas’ [the founder of St. Jude] dream that no child should die in the dawn of life.”

While the Facets of Hope is the big money raiser, JFC supporters also raise money in a variety of novel, small-scale ways. One retailer Rocha mentions puts a donation canister on the counters of his two stores. Customers standing by the cash desk drop in small denominations of money, to the tune of around $10,000 dollars a year. In other cases, manufacturers place the canisters in their factories for employees to make donations.

One of the ways that Rocha sees industry involvement increasing is through improving the way that retailers can promote the charity to their customers. “Jewelers need something they can do in their store that involves the customer in a better way,” he says, and he is not short on ideas.

He has many suggestions that can easily be emulated by jewelers, no matter how big or small their business. One jeweler changes watch batteries for free and suggests a donation to JFC, while another does the same when it comes to cleaning jewelry. Some stores participate in JFC’s holiday program by sending out cards designed by children helped by the charity. For each card bought, a donation is made to JFC. Others send donations in lieu of gifts, while others still have set up a payroll deduction reward scheme for their employees.

“Every year, the generosity of the industry surprises me,” says Rocha. “It amazes me what we can do.”