Wayne Green, new executive director of the S’firot Foundation, has helped people of all ages in every corner of the world, and he’s now here to enhance the lives of local seniors.
by Chip Colandreo
Down under, they call it Aussie-dox – a uniquely Australian blend of Jewish Orthodox traditions distilled from those who somehow, someway, made it to the Diaspora’s final frontier. And there, in the island continent’s southwestern coastal city of Perth, Wayne Green fit perfectly into this eclectic menagerie.
“Perth is one of the most remote cities on Earth,” Wayne explains, noting that about 80 percent of those who live in the entire western half of Australia call Perth home. “There is a small but strong Jewish community there.”
Wayne was born in South Africa, where a large community of Jews settled in the late 1800s. Political and cultural instability in the early 1990s prompted many of those Jewish families to move again, which is what brought 14-year old Wayne to Perth. After college. Wayne and his family settled in Melbourne, Australia, home to a thriving Jewish community. In fact, Melbourne is home to the largest population of Holocaust survivors outside of Israel. His grandmother remained in South Africa, and Wayne’s fond memories of her would lay the foundation for the career opportunity that recently brought him half-a-world away to his new home here in Central Florida.
Wayne is the new (and first) executive director of the S’firot Foundation, an initiative born from the Kinneret Apartments, a decades-old elder-living community in downtown Orlando. When the buildings were sold in 2022, the proceeds were used to create the S’firot Foundation with a simple but powerful mission to reinvest millions of dollars every year back into Central Florida’s elder adult community. The needs of this 60+ population are more diverse than ever before, and it’s now Wayne’s job – along with his dedicated Board of Directors – to engage the local community to thoroughly assess those needs so the Foundation can create the most impact with its funding.
“The ability to care for older adults, and to ensure that they live out their lives with dignity, love, support, and wellness is something I’m extremely passionate about,” says Wayne, whose first job during his university years in Perth was at the local Jewish old-age home. He then went on to build a stellar career in philanthropic and nonprofit management in Australia, the U.K., and the United States. “Our goal at the S’firot Foundation is to work with the community to best support both older adults and their caregivers. What are the existing initiatives that we can continue to fund and help them build capacity? Also, what is new out there in the sector that is not in Central Florida, and how can we bring those ideas here?”
Wayne is especially proud of his deep experience with Giving Circles, groups of like-minded philanthropists who pool their donations to fund causes close to their collective hearts. One of the signature groups Wayne organized was a gay men’s Jewish Giving Circle in New York during the COVID pandemic. Their first donation, ironically, was to an organization that provided tablet computers to older adults who were isolated and cut off from friends and relatives during the pandemic.
Only Wayne, a South African-born, Aussie-dox Australian, could rally a group of gay Jewish men to direct their philanthropic hearts to seniors.
Now, Wayne is bringing his love and appreciation for seniors and his extensive experience in building and managing philanthropy to his new home of Central Florida.
“Together, we can do so much,” he says. “If I can bring life and kindness and gather together the organizations that care for our elders and help them all do their best work – how lucky am I to do that? My favorite childhood memories are of my grandmother’s flat in Cape Town, surrounded by family at Shabbat dinners during holiday breaks with the smell of the ocean outside. I want to help so many more seniors be engaged, connected, and make memories like that. It’s a gift I hope to bring to this community and to this work.”
This story can be seen in the Fall 2025 edition of JLife Magazine at: https://online.flippingbook.com/view/646872250/10/