Votes Plunge Due to Shabbos

By COLlive reporter

On Friday, January 15, Friendship Circle of Michigan was positioned well at 2nd place in the Facebook-based Chase Community Giving Challenge.

They have been networking for votes as one of the 100 nationwide non-profits competing for a $1 million grant.

But then the holy day of Shabbos came in.

“We practically shut down the campaign on Friday afternoon,” related Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the director of the organization that helps families and their children with special needs.

Shemtov, his staff in West Bloomfield, along with volunteers and Chabad Shluchim around the U.S. and the world, have been creating buzz for the cause.

“For Shabbos, even the non-Jewish volunteers halted the tweeting and Facebooking and all. And we were proud to do so,” Shemtov told COLlive.com Sunday.

However, he now has to compensate for that time lapse, as by Motzoei Shabbos their bid fell to 9th place. Friendship Circle is the only Jewish contestant in the race.

“We are confident we’ll make up for it,” he says.

Celebrities such as Page Hemmis and Marlee Matlin of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Hollywood actor Jon Voight have endorsed the run.

UJC – The Jewish Federations of North America will be sending a mass email this week to all its members urging them to vote. Many others are on board.

Did you vote? Visit VoteFC.com

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