Gertrude (“Gertie”) Fox has long been active in the Jewish community in LA, at Beth Jacob, the synagogue she and her family attend. Still, she said, AMIT has always been her “main organization.”
“AMIT always came first because it involved children,” Fox said, adding that she has been supporting it for as long as she can remember. She was the first person in her family to become involved with AMIT and says she was drawn to its mission of educating children in Israel within a framework of Jewish values.
“If I was going to use my energies or work for something, I thought that’s what I would join and do – put my energies behind that,” Fox, now 90 years old, said. Her energies have been used to raise funds, chair numerous dinners in LA (including one she co-chaired with her daughter Janice Fox Kaufler), and serve as the past president of the LA Council, among other important roles.
In addition to attending AMIT events, she and her husband, Gerson, also visited AMIT schools in Israel because they felt it was important to see what impact their work was having on the children.
“The idea of Jewish continuity has always been important to me,” Fox said, adding that it was gratifying to know she has made in difference in lives of so many Israeli children.
