VOLUNTEERS HELP GROUP RAISE FUNDS.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer

Volunteers at three sites worked the phones for the annual Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles Super Sunday fund-raiser, with volunteers at a West Hills phone bank hoping to raise nearly $2 million.

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, joined Los Angeles City council members Dennis Zine and Wendy Gruel and hundreds of volunteers at the Bernard Milken Jewish Community Campus in the San Fernando Valley. On one call, Zine got a $5,000 pledge from a woman and one for $5,000 from her husband.

``And her husband's en route to Vegas for work,'' Zine said, ``so I made a joke: `Let's make sure we get it before he comes back.'''

The nearly $2 million volunteers in West Hills hoped to collect was part of the federation's total fund-raising goal of $5 million. More than 1,000 volunteers dialed in shifts throughout the day at the West Hills facility.

Part of the money raised will help organizations operating in the Valley, including Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, Jewish Big Brothers and Sisters and the Jewish Vocational Service.

``It's an incredible organization'' that supports groups from ``all over the city of Los Angeles,'' said Gruel, who was at the Milken Campus with her infant son Thomas Schramm.

``We're lucky to have this facility here in the San Fernando Valley,'' she said.

Volunteers called past donors and asked them to give a little more this year, as well as ringing up people who are active in organizations that help Jewish causes, said David Cohan, who co-chaired the West Hills fund-raiser. Volunteers also called their own friends and acquaintances to raise money.

The federation advertised Super Sunday with street banners and advertising, so many donors were expecting calls from a volunteer.

Volunteer Karen Gale of Valley Village said that made her job easier.

``And most of the people are happy to contribute and they're quite generous,'' she said.

The phone bank at the Milken Campus was in the facility's basketball gym. Volunteers sat at tables with colorful balloons and wore Super Sunday T-shirts given to them for the occasion.

Sixty percent of the funds will go to organizations in the Los Angeles area and 40 percent will be sent to Jewish communities in 58 countries, said Ken Warner, president of the Jewish Federation Valley Alliance.

Israel will receive funds for social services and humanitarian needs. In the past, federation money has been sent to Israel to pay for the burials of victims of terrorism, Warner said.

The federation's two other phone sites were at its Los Angeles headquarters and at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Redondo Beach.

Alex Dobuzinskis, [phone]

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com