HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Laura King spends her professional life connecting supplies to the men and women in the U.S. Army, most recently in
.
She spends the rest of her time, as the national chair of the Network of Independent Communities of the
, connecting the resources of Jews in the
with the resources of Jews and others in
.
The Network connects more than 400 of the smaller Jewish communities in the
, like those of
and
. It also helps raise some $11 million a year, most of which is sent to
for humanitarian purposes, but her work is not, primarily, King says, to raise funds for the poor of
. Her work is to help protect and nurture the identity of Jews in both the
and in
.
"
is not just the poor beggar," King said. "They have something to offer."
And what Israel has to offer, besides shelter to the millions of Jews from Russia, Morocco, Ethiopia, North Africa and radicalized pockets of Iran, Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries, is a direct link to the identity of members of one of the world's oldest faiths.
It's an identity under siege in many places because of active attempts to drive Jews out. In developed countries, it is under siege from assimilation and apathy among younger Jews.
"In the West, we really have to fight for our identity," King said. "It's too easy to slide into being something else - this is what
has to offer."
King, a member of Etz Chaim,
's Conservative Jewish synagogue, has long been active in Jewish community work. She is a past president of the Jewish Federation of Huntsville and
and board member for the national Network.
This week, she was in
with meetings of the Joint Distribution Committee of the Network and Federation. That committee allocates aid to troubled spots around the world, including helping to set up a hospital in
after the earthquake.
"You name it: If there is a problem, we're probably there," King said by phone from
.
When she visits
, King tours projects supported by Network donations. On a visit this spring, she was the honored guest of a school in Dimona, a city in the
desert that has a large Bedouin population.
The Network's donations help support a "Lunch & Learn" program for students in need of extra food and extra help with school work. Many of those students are children of new immigrants. Nearby, more donations help fund a vocational school for Bedouin women, who struggle against prejudices in that largely Muslim culture that have left them disproportionately illiterate and unskilled.
The Network's support for programs that largely benefit non-Jews goes against stereotypes about
, King said, and point to the heart of the Israeli aim.
"You can't bring up one segment of the population and leave someone else behind," King said. "You have to bring everybody up."
That includes supporting a school largely attended by Palestinian children, she said.
"Peace is not just for one guy," King said. "You have to take everyone into account. You can't just isolate people; you will never have a healthy society if you isolate any group."
In addition to helping Jewish communities network, King networks locally with Christians interested in supporting the state of
and also with exploring the Jewish roots of Christian beliefs.
Pastor Bob Somerville of Awareness Ministries and coordinator of the citywide Christian Passover, Christ Our Passover, will be presenting the local Federation with $1,000 during Sunday's local observance of the Israeli Independence Day.
The local Federation has used past donations to help with funding scholarships for local teachers to the
's teacher training program and with programs like those at the Dimona school in
.
Theological differences, King said, can wait.
"We don't argue about the Messiah," King said. "When the Messiah comes, we'll just ask him."
"What matters is what you push into the future - did you leave something better, or did you just breathe the air while you were here?"