Dearest Family and Friends,

We recently passed the 12th yahrzeit of our mother and grandmother, Betty Kaplan z”l, and are coming up on the 8th yahrzeit of her devoted husband, our father and grandfather, Raymond Kaplan z”l. It is almost incomprehensible that we have spent these years without them – fortunately their spirit and memory continue with us. We have long considered the idea of a significant philanthropic project in their memory – something they would have truly loved – but the timing was not right, until now. In the middle of this pandemic, we find that the time has come, and it is imperfectly perfect.

Ray and Betty were inspired philanthropists – or at least Ray was, and Betty provided support and often counter-arguments, while proudly standing by Ray celebrating the success of their philanthropic endeavors. What began as American Jewish communal support for Israel back in the 1960s developed into a personal style of philanthropy that was needs-based, on-the-ground, pure Ray Kaplan, a style he has passed on to us and influences our work in philanthropy to this day. Graduates of Ray’s Yad Kenny program, used as his philanthropic vehicle for years to educate underprivileged youth in Jerusalem, are doing amazing things of their own in Israeli society. The money Ray and Betty donated for interest-free loans via Ogen, then the Israel Free Loan Association, continues to be recycled to this day, providing loans to Israeli families, individuals, businesses and NGOs in need of an outstretched hand.

The loss of their son Kenny z”l to polio in 1949 was an emotional blow from which Ray and Betty never recovered. They contributed for years to the March of Dimes, which eventually brought about the Salk vaccine that all but eradicated polio. We have been thinking about Kenny, polio and vaccines at this time, as we live through a horrifying new pandemic, also respiratory, also deadly. The miracle of the coronavirus vaccines being ready so quickly is one that is not lost upon our family. If there had been a timely polio vaccine, could Kenny have been saved? Today, those of us writing and reading this letter have been – or hopefully soon will be – protected by one of the coronavirus vaccines.

The most significant of Ray and Betty’s philanthropic projects in memory of Kenny was establishing a room at ALYN Hospital, Jerusalem’s renowned paediatric and adolescent rehabilitation hospital. Betty and Ray had a special relationship with ALYN and wanted to help other sick children and the families of sick children. Their relationship continued for many years and passed on to Audrey, who annually supports ALYN’s Wheels of Love Bike Ride, and to Jonathan, who launched a fundraising campaign for ALYN in memory of Ray just after he passed away.

ALYN, like any medical facility, is experiencing enormous physical and financial challenges due to the coronavirus. In addition to the reorganizing of its indoor space to ensure maximum safety and health for patients on ventilators, ALYN had to temporarily close many of its income-generating services, such as some outpatient care services and its afterschool sports program for children with disabilities, and also provided thousands of remote online rehabilitation treatments for the patients for whom it was safest to remain at home. ALYN successfully adapted to the “new normal,” ending 2020 having served nearly 3,400 children – the same as an average year - ensuring their critical development and giving them a chance for a brighter future.

It is for this reason that we chose to support ALYN’s Guardian Angelship Project in memory of Ray and Betty Kaplan, supporting specialized paramedical treatments for ALYN’s children: psychological and social work services, physiotherapy, hydrotherapy, occupational and speech therapy. Ray and Betty were believers in Maimonides’ principle that the highest level of philanthropy is to help others help themselves. These treatments allow ALYN’s children to become independent to the maximum of their ability and to learn methods for helping themselves in reaching their own highest level of physical, emotional and spiritual wellness.

This is where you come in, you who loved and admired Ray and Betty Kaplan. We hope that you will choose to remember them and continue their philanthropic legacy by giving generously to our joint campaign to raise $36,000 – twice chai – for the Guardian Angelship Project at ALYN. $36,000 will help ALYN Hospital to provide more than 1,200 treatments for children with disabilities. We believe that Ray and Betty would have loved this project – for its timeliness in the middle of a pandemic, for its impact on thousands of children, for its connection to their personal loss and philanthropic affinities, for their love of ALYN, and because it is and will be supported by those whom they loved.

We hope that you will consider donating today to help us to reach our double chai goal and, in the spirit of Jewish belief, to raise their souls even higher in the next world.

This campaign will end just before Pesach, on Thursday, the 25th of March.

With love, respect and wishes for health (and pandemic-time sanity) for you all,

Audrey Kaplan Scher           Jonathan Kaplan           Dena Scher

To donate by check (tax-deductible in Israel)

- Make payable to ALYN Hospital

- Mail to: ALYN Hospital, Resource Development Department, 84 Shmaryahu Levin Street, Jerusalem 9109002 ISRAEL

- Please include a note that the donation is made in memory of Ray and Betty Kaplan z”l

To donate by check in USD (tax-deductible in the USA)

- Make payable to American Friends of ALYN Hospital

- Mail to: American Friends of ALYN Hospital, 122 E 42nd Street, Suite 1519, New York, NY 10169

- Please include a note that the donation is made in memory of Ray and Betty Kaplan z”l