Streetwise

Lauren Rudd

Sunday, November 13, 2011

On Philanthropy and Hurricanes

This column recently received what I believe to be one of the greatest honors ever bestowed on it. No, there were no brass bands, plaques or great applause. Rather it took place in a crowded room amongst hundreds of people with the simple exchange of a few quiet words between a great lady named Betty Schoenbaum and myself.

I had the opportunity and pleasure to attend an evening benefit honoring Betty and her humanitarian efforts. While many of my out-of-state readers may not recognize Betty’s name, please take my word for it that to Betty, and her late husband Alex Schoenbaum, the founder of the Shoney’s restaurant and hotel chain, unprecedented philanthropy is a way of life.

It is not enough that the Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center in Sarasota, Florida is able to house 18 non-profit agencies. Through Betty’s generosity those agencies now provides aid and comfort to over 11,000 people each month, thereby enabling them to become more productive citizens.

Betty has also provided funds for ORT America to build a multi-million dollar Science, Education, Cultural and Sports Campus in Kiryat Yam, Israel. The high-tech educational development campus heralds a revitalization of Kiryat Yam, a working class community of 45,000 that is home to a large concentration of Russian and Ethiopian immigrants.

If you are not familiar with ORT, the name is derived from the Russian term Obschestvo Remeslenovo i. Zemledelcheskovo Trouda, which means Society for Trades and Agricultural Labor. During the modernization of tsarist Russia, economic reforms encouraged capitalism, which in turn increased the need for factory workers and skilled craftsman.

This left many Jews marginalized. They had lost their jobs on the giant estates of feudal landlords but did not have the necessary skills for the newly created and more technologically advanced jobs of the day, having been excluded by law from entering many occupations.

To solve the problem, a group of wealthy respected Russian Jews petitioned the tzar to offer classes in the trades and in agriculture. My grandfather was one of those who helped petition the tzar. The tzar accepted and ORT was born in 1880. Through the years, the term ORT has become synonymous with high-tech educational programs that offer the training necessary to obtain meaningful employment.

Meanwhile, when Betty saw me that evening she said in course of our conversation that during the summer months when she is up north she directs her secretary to clip my column each and every week and send it to her to read so that she will never miss one. Thank you Betty, I am honored.

Living on the coast of Florida means that you become acutely aware tropical disturbances, particularly around the October to November time frame, which is considered prime hurricane season. Nonetheless, awareness does not equate to panic. Instead you take reasonable precautions ahead of time to ride out the storm.

In monitoring Wall Street’s weather forecast, there are several disturbances on the immediate horizon you should be aware of and prepare to ride out. Two of those storms have names and they are called Greece and Italy.

The question is whether the barometer is pointing to continued light showers, or are we facing more of a hurricane type storm with the possibility of a full blown recession ahead?

Regardless of which way the wind blows, many investors are likely to become discouraged and look for alternatives to investing on Wall Street. Of course I vehemently disagree. I am just as enthusiastic about investing in equities today as I was when I first started dealing with the Street over four decades ago.

Yet, many individuals simply do not have, or do not want to have the emotional fortitude required to deal with the volatility of the financial markets. For them, Warren Buffett’s comment that the time to invest is when everyone else is running scared and selling; falls on deaf ears.

While your investment prowess may not challenge Warren Buffet, you can certainly produce satisfying returns on a smaller scale. Next week we will again resume our quest for companies to help you meet that goal.