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Making Connections
Your Monthly Update on Our Work and Impact
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From Gail’s Desk
December 12, 2024
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Dear Sarah,
In these final dark days of 2024, it can be tempting to dwell on the difficulty of the past year. And yet all across JF&CS, people come together every day to support the community. Together we live out the work of chessed (loving-kindness) and tikkun olam (repairing the world)—which to me are the among the most important of our Jewish values.
Yes, the days are short, and yes, the world is complicated. But in this Chanukah season, I’m choosing to focus on the many bright lights I see in this work. Please read on for our Eight Bright Lights, people who are lighting the way toward healing and hope.
I wish you a happy Chanukah, with hopes for blessings and brightness in the year ahead.
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Gail Schulman
Chief Executive Officer
P.S. If you haven't yet had a chance to donate this year, I hope you'll consider making a gift to our year-end campaign.
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Family Table Serves Record Number of Families Facing Food Insecurity | |
Once again defying the myth that Jewish poverty doesn’t exist, enrollment in JF&CS Family Table continued to grow throughout 2024. This year, 124 new families signed up for Family Table, and nearly 750 households are now enrolled in our program—which provides food, case management, and connection to the full range of JF&CS services. The time, energy, and financial commitment of our volunteers, donors, and community partners has been essential to our ability to serve a growing number of families and deliver $812,000 worth of food to people in need. | | |
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Support Groups Foster Healthy Early Relationships, Help Parents Overcome Challenges | |
Becoming a parent involves a combination of excitement and stress—and the opportunity to connect with others who share that experience is a powerful one. JF&CS offers ongoing weekly support groups for parents of babies under age one, open to all members of the community. Many of these groups offer a focus on particular challenges—including groups for parents of premature or medically fragile infants, for families impacted by trauma or by substance use, adoptive parents, and parents experiencing stress, mood changes, or anxiety. The groups play an important role for JF&CS’s Center for Early Relationship support, which helps over a thousand young families each year. | | |
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Parkinson’s Storytelling Initiative Nurtures Community through Sharing | |
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At JF&CS’s Charlotte & Richard Okonow Parkinson’s Family Support program, we offer many opportunities for participants to form connections that make the disease less isolating and bring joy into their lives. Our pilot storytelling initiative paired people living with Parkinson’s Disease with volunteers to craft and share their stories. Not only did this empower participants, but hearing the recorded stories also had a profound effect on their families and friends.
Following his Parkinson’s diagnosis, participant Rick Colby (pictured) made a decision: to finally learn to sail, after living his entire life by the sea. “Sailing for me has become a metaphor for life, for dealing with adversity and for aging gracefully…I allow flexibility to adjust my timing so that I can take advantage of opportunities for the good-weather windows I'm presented with. I remind myself that life is constantly changing.”
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JF&CS Launches Community Education, New Services to Support Youth Mental Health | |
Our nation is in the midst of a youth mental health crisis, and yet finding mental health resources is incredibly difficult. Building on our longstanding expertise helping families address mental health challenges, JF&CS introduced new services this year to help parents and caregivers better to understand their children’s mental health needs and navigate the system to meet those needs. We also hosted a public event series where parents, caregivers, and professionals learned about topics including how to distinguish normal adolescent angst from more serious conditions, ways to support LGBTQ+ youth, and navigating boundaries in the digital world. | | |
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Helping People with Disabilities Develop Skills for Independent Living | | |
Many young adults with disabilities want to move out of the family home when they reach adulthood, yet they need some support as they transition to living independently. JF&CS helps individuals with disabilities find housing, employment, and social opportunities through our life skills coaching and support programs. We helped 123 people live independently in the last year. In our beautiful building in Brighton, residents enjoy independent living in apartments while still having access to support. Coaching and skill building can also take place in the client’s own home or in the community, with additional opportunities for employment support and for social activities. | | |
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Our Commitment to Holocaust Survivors, 80 Years On |
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Next month marks 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz. Though the worldwide population of living Holocaust survivors is declining, the needs of survivors are intensifying as they age. JF&CS today cares for more than 400 Holocaust survivors, and their needs have increased by 20% in the last year alone. Our Schechter Holocaust Services program, the only service of its kind in the state, provides financial assistance, home care, socialization, and case management by staff who understand survivors and their trauma triggers. Caring touches—like home visits by caring volunteers, handmade greeting cards, even citations from the governor to mark their 100th birthdays (pictured)—remind survivors that the community cares about them. | | |
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Journey to Safety Advocates for Groundbreaking Legislation to Protect Domestic Abuse Survivors | |
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While JF&CS helps individuals every day, we also create broader change. Earlier this year, our Journey to Safety program and domestic abuse programs around the state successfully advocated for An Act to Prevent Abuse and Exploitation, which was signed into law by Governor Maura Healy in July.
The new law recognizes less visible—but no less harmful—forms of abuse by adding “coercive control” as a basis for the most common protective order sought by survivors of domestic abuse. Pictured: Journey to Safety staff and volunteer mentors participate in a legislative advocacy day at the State House in March.
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Your Elder Experts Marks 25 Years of Excellence in Helping People Age with Dignity | |
Five years from now, an estimated one in every five people in Massachusetts will be over the age of 65, and more than half of older adults will eventually need some form of long-term care. JF&CS’s Your Elder Experts—one of the largest nonprofit care management groups in Greater Boston—supports older adults and their caregivers as they navigate the challenges of aging. A trusted and compassionate provider that marked its 25th anniversary this year, Your Elder Experts provides both consultation and ongoing care management to enhance older adults’ quality of life, encourage independence, and help create a safe and supportive living environment. | |
The Shamash, or ninth candle, is the one that lights all the others. In our community, you are the Shamash. Your generosity and support have helped us improve the lives of more than 16,000 people this year. Thank you for fueling our mission. |
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jfcsboston.org | 781-647-JFCS (5327)
Waltham Headquarters | Brighton | Canton | Newton | North Shore
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