mosaic
THE MAGAZINE OF
THE JEWISH FEDERATION
OF GREATER LOS ANGELES
DECEMBER 2007
Who Said There’s No Such Thing
as a Free Lunch?
JFLA’s Interest-Free Loans
athleen Hiraga owns a company
K
that
sells
organic
gardening
products. Sam Fischer makes a
living with his violin. Julie Fulton
and Joshua Eckhaus run a start-up
that helps students get into college.
Though they all work in very different fields
with little in common, Kathleen, Sam, Julie
and Joshua are united by one extremely
important and unique fact: they each received
a micro-enterprise interest-free loan from the
Jewish Free Loan Association (JFLA).
A beneficiary agency of the Federation,
JFLA was started in 1904 by a small group of
L.A. businessmen who wanted to help the
needy by giving out interest-free loans for
things like sewing machines and pushcarts.
Kathleen Hiraga (left) with an intern
During World War II, JFLA was instrumental
in helping thousands of families get a fresh
start. Likewise, after the Watts riots in 1965,
in a greenhouse, but also allowed her to hire two interns. In no time at all, her business, like her
JFLA met the needs of business owners
seedlings, started to blossom. Designing culinary gardens for private clients and selling her home-
looking to get back on track. Following the
grown products at the Santa Monica Farmers Market, Kathleen was able to get Garden Organics
Northridge earthquake in 1994, JFLA was
up and running quickly and profitably.
there again with invaluable cash loans for those
Violinist Sam Fischer is the recipient of two separate JFLA loans—the first of which helped him
who were forced from their homes or who
pay for graduate school at Juilliard in NewYork.After graduation, Sam moved back to Los Angeles,
the city where he was born and raised, and started looking for freelance gigs. Keenly aware that the
couldn’t access bank accounts.
For Kathleen, Sam, Julie and Joshua, who,
4
friend and immediately applied. Her $10,000 loan helped her not only purchase tools and rent space
sound of his instrument could mean the difference between getting and losing a job, Sam started
thankfully, didn’t need to apply for loans under
looking around for a better violin than the one he’d relied on all through college.“It’s important to
such dire straits, JFLA came through much the
have a fine violin in order to go much deeper into the interpretation of what I’m playing,” Sam
same way the organization did when it was
explains.“I can get a much more pleasing sound and a wider variety of colors. It’s easier to get the
first
wasn’t
sound you envision in your mind. For a violinist, no amount of money can compare to the feeling
created. Though
Kathleen
interested in purchasing a pushcart to sell her
of being able to perform at your highest potential.” Unfortunately for Sam, the violins he could
fruits and vegetables when she was launching
afford wouldn’t allow him to reach that potential. That is, until he secured his second loan from
Garden Organics, Inc., she did need a
JFLA and was able to purchase a French violin made in the early 1800s. Though no Stradivarius,
greenhouse in which to cultivate seedlings. “I
Sam loves the instrument and has used it exclusively while playing with the Los Angeles Opera
was extremely cash-poor in the beginning and
Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, and the
couldn’t really get the tools I needed,” she says.
Pacific Symphony. He’s also played on major motion picture soundtracks for many of Hollywood’s
Then she heard about JFLA through a good
top composers.
mosaic
giving students the advantage they need for their application essays and interviews. Julie
and Joshua will even help students find the right schools to apply to.
“Our approach is simple,” says Joshua.“The application process is a very stressful period
for kids. It’s no longer about early application. Now there’s early action and single choice
early action and early decision and even early decision two—and these parents see this
and their heads explode. So we are here to help alleviate as much stress as we can and
help them find a school that’s right for them, rather than just going after the top 25
schools.”
And that list of top schools is changing quickly. Not even 10 years ago, most kids with
an A- average and decent SAT scores could have gotten into a number of elite private
schools. Julie says today that’s not the case. “It’s much easier for kids to apply to schools
now through the Internet.They can copy and paste their essays into common application
forms, which means you have students applying to a couple dozen schools now.”
For Julie and Joshua their JFLA loan not only gave them the financial wherewithal to
launch their college prep business, but the application process helped them focus and get
organized.“The concept of JFLA really lit a fire under us to sit down and write a business
plan, to create marketing materials, and build a Web site,” explains Joshua.“We were also
very impressed with the fact that both the Federation and JFLA are not exclusive—that
they’re not only helping Jewish people, which is a philosophy we’ve adopted with Mosaic.
Though the lion’s share of our clientele is Jewish, we’re not only working with Jewish
Violinist Sam Fischer
kids.”
Mark Meltzer, long-time executive director of JFLA, says the agency’s non-sectarian
Immensely grateful for the loan, Sam says,“The
approach dates back to its humble beginnings.“We are one of the original partners of United
other option for me would have been getting a
Way and our founding fathers felt that the agency should be responsive to the entire community,
loan through the musician’s union at 10 or 12
not just Jews.” He also points to a commandment in the Torah that lays out the law as it relates
percent. So the JFLA savings allowed me to look
to lending: If thou lend money to any of My people, even to the poor with thee, thou shalt not be to him
at much better violins than I’d otherwise have
as a creditor; neither shall ye lay upon him interest. (Exodus 22:24)
been able to.”
Part of JFLA’s success over the years is tied to the fact that 99.5 percent of all their loans are
For Julie Fulton and Joshua Eckhaus, who
repaid. (Bank delinquency rates are typically much higher.) Mark says, “We attribute these
recently started Mosaic College Prep [note: no
numbers to the fact that we give our clients individual attention. We conduct face-to-face
relation to this publication] and who had no
meetings with all of our borrowers and because our money is interest-free, they feel more of an
musician’s union to turn to, it was either JFLA or
obligation to pay the loan back.”
maxing out their credit cards. As Joshua half-
After Kathleen paid back her original loan and Garden Organics was on its feet, she decided
jokingly remarks, “Without JFLA, it’s safe to say
she wanted to concentrate on building her own line of organic fertilizer, heirlooms and lawn
we wouldn’t be sleeping nearly as much at night.”
seed. With a second loan from JFLA, she was able to start Organics Rx, a product line now
With respective backgrounds in admissions at
available in all 59 Smith & Hawkins stores nationwide. Kathleen is presently working to get her
Tufts University and instruction at Kaplan, Julie
line into every Whole Foods store across the country and discussions are underway with Target,
and Joshua teamed up when they discovered they
too.
shared the same philosophy: the more people who
She says none of this would have been possible without JFLA, which has enabled her to push
have access to courses and workshops that help
forward with developing her products. Business is going so well, she’s hopeful she’ll be able to
students get into good colleges, the better. “Our
pay it forward soon. “I would love to be able to support JFLA in the future as my business
goal,” says Joshua, “is to make private instruction
continues to grow,” says Kathleen. “I think it’s a great, great organization for the entire
more accessible.The wealthy may be able to afford
community.”
m
a private application tutor for $30,000, but what
about those who can’t?” Mosaic College Prep’s
classes are designed to be affordable, while still
For more information about Jewish Free Loan Association, please contact (323) 761-8830 or e-mail [email protected].
Reprinted with permission from The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. All Rights Reserved.