The Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation made a $5 million gift to the Jewish Agency`s Kiryat Ye`arim youth village on Yom Haatzmaut.

This is the foundation`s first allocation. Based in Southfield, Michigan near Detroit,  the foundation was formally endowed after the passing of Max Fisher, the founding chairman of the Jewish Agency`s Board of Governors, on March 3, 2005 at the age of 96. Renowned for his business acumen and global philanthropic achievements, Max Fisher and Marjorie, his wife of 51 years, ensured their giving would continue to benefit the causes close to their hearts and those of their children and grandchildren through the creation of the foundation.

The foundation's multifaceted mission reflects the values of its founders and their shared Jewish heritage to empower families, serve those at-risk, improve the health of the community and world and support higher education and the arts.

The Jewish Agency`s Kiryat Yearim youth village caters primarily to new immigrant youth and youth at risk.

Currently almost 100 pupils live and study at Kiryat Ye`arim.1/3 are from the Former Soviet Union, 1/3 from Ethiopia and 1/3 Israeli children at risk.

This gift will enable The Jewish Agency to double the enrolment to 200 pupils over the next 3 years. Similarly, the Jewish Agency will be able to expand the school from 3 classes of grades 7 to 9 to an additional 3 classes of grades 10 to 12.

According to Jeff Kaye, the Director General of the Jewish Agency`s Department for Resource Development and Public Affairs,this gift will enable the Jewish Agency to implement a similar program that was successfully implemented at the Jewish Agency`s youth village at Ramat Hadssah where the Jewish Agency is partnered with the Hadassah Women`s Zionist Organization of America and Israeli businessman Avi Naor. At Kiryat Ye`arim the Jewish Agency is partnered with the Swiss Friends of Kiryat Ye`arim and Avi Naor."These partnerships symbolize the new directions the Jewish Agency is taking in dealing with the issue of youth at-risk", said Jeff Kaye.

Kaye added " All those who knew the late Max Fisher personally and his struggle to open the gates for the Jews of the Former Soviet Union feel that this is an appropriate way to perpetuate his legacy." Jane Sherman, a daughter of the late Max Fisher and a member of the Jewish Agency Executive , co- chair of the Jewish Agency`s Israel Committee and a former chair of the Youth Aliyah Committee said: " I am very excited that the Foundation has decded to make Kiryat Ye`arim the first beneficiary of the Foundation. My late father strongly believed in taking care of new immigrant youth and this gift in his memory is a way of honoring his dream of making sure that these new immigrant children will receive an excellent opportunity to be given the best tools to succeed in their future lives in Israel"