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Longtime donor to Ochs Community Fund talks why she gives

Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / In 2022, Lesley Scearce, president and CEO at United Way of Greater Chattanooga, speaks at the United Way location on Market Street. The United Way administers and distributes money donated to the Ochs Community Fund to help people in need. Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / In 2022, Lesley Scearce, president and CEO at United Way of Greater Chattanooga, speaks at the United Way location on Market Street. The United Way administers and distributes money donated to the Ochs Community Fund to help people in need.

By Leah Hunter December 18, 2024 5 min read

MJ Levine, a Chattanooga resident from Dallas, considers herself to be a consummate volunteer.

From helping with the Hunter Museum of American Art and the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera to the Junior League and A Step Ahead, Levine has kept herself busy volunteering for over 50 years. For the past two years, she’s served as president of her temple, the Mizpah Congregation.

But since 1969, when Levine married her late husband, Howard Levine, she has donated to the Chattanooga Times Free Press Ochs Community Fund, formerly known as the Neediest Cases campaign. The fund is a wonderful idea, she said, considering it helps people who run into things they cannot handle.

Ochs Community Fund

To donate to the Ochs Community Fund, formerly called Neediest Cases, please visit timesfreepress.com/ochs-fund.