Jewish Care Receives History Making $5 Million Donation
Jewish Care Victoria is thrilled to announce it has received a $5 million donation from Mrs Hannah Cohen and family, in memory of the late Daryl Cohen.
Tania Smorgon, Hannah Cohen, Lorelle Krulis, Mike Debinski and Bill Appleby
The gift will underpin the construction of the new 9-storey St Kilda Road (Stage 1) aged and community care development – part of the organisation’s $180 million Capital Campaign, Growing. For Our Community.
The donation – believed to be the largest in the history of the Victorian Jewish community – was confirmed recently by Daryl’s wife, Hannah Cohen and their four daughters, Karen Gutman, Lorelle Krulis, Tania Smorgon, Donna Cohen and their families in memory of Daryl who passed away earlier this year.
“We hope that others in our community will be inspired by this gift. We made this donation because Daryl was a very special person and we wanted his memory and what he stood for to live on,” Hannah Cohen said.
The naming rights donation is for Stage 1 of the St Kilda Road Senior Living & Community Precinct development. This is the first of two stages in the redevelopment of the Montefiore Homes site. The project, which is due to commence later this year will provide 156 residential aged care beds over seven accommodation levels, together with a further two levels delivering essential community services.
Daryl was highly-respected in the community as a successful lawyer, sportsman and devoted family man. An extremely talented weightlifter, Daryl became the first Victorian Jewish Olympian at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games. He was also a founder, coach and president of the AJAX Football Club, and was entered into the Maccabi Hall of Fame.
Additionally, Daryl gave generously of his time to charitable causes, including as a board member of Montefiore Homes between 1985 and 1993, and continued his family’s lifelong association with The Melbourne Jewish and Children’s Aid Society.
“Dad was always reminding us of the importance of helping people less fortunate. We therefore felt that Jewish Care’s Capital Campaign was the perfect opportunity to pay tribute to his legacy. Jewish Care’s significant investment into our community’s future wellbeing is something we know Dad would have wanted to be a part of,” Lorelle Krulis added.
Jewish Care President Mike Debinski said: “We are extremely honoured that the Cohen family has chosen to give this beyond-generous gift to Jewish Care. As we pave the way for the future of the Victorian Jewish community through our new developments, Daryl’s incredible legacy will continue on and be an inspiration for many generations to come.”
The donation is in addition to a previous $1 million donation towards the St Kilda Rd project from Daryl, his brother Trevor Cohen and sister Natalie Kotzman, which was secured last year, before Daryl’s passing.
Jewish Care has raised more than $18 million in pledges since the Capital Campaign commenced, with a target of $30 million. The first project of the Campaign, The Coppel & Piekarski Family Disability Respite Centre in Caulfield was completed in March.
