OUR VISION
No one in our community should suffer hunger, isolation, abandonment, emotional or physical distress, or lack of community support and caring.
OUR MISSION
Jewish Family Service of the Lehigh Valley, guided by Jewish values, helps individuals and families to live healthier and more stable lives by providing social services, professional counseling, education and community programs.
THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS
Boscov’s Jewish Community Center of Lehigh Valley Jewish Day School of the Lehigh Valley Lehigh Valley Synagogues
Monocacy Farm Wawa Wegmans Weis Markets
DEAR JFS FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS: We are pleased to present you with our Annual Report, which showcases some of our accomplishments this past year and the way in which we fund our excellent staff and programs. As you will see in this report, JFS piloted new programs and provided critical services to persons in need in our community. Dedicated professional staff and committed volunteers help JFS to increase its impact on the community. As we celebrate our accomplishments, we continue to assess the needs of individuals and families throughout our Lehigh Valley community. We strive to provide excellent services and look at innovative ways to improve our service delivery. Thank you for your support of our services including counseling, older adult services, case management and our food pantry. We look forward to your continued support and involvement. JFS appreciates your belief in what we do because together we are able to help individuals and families who need us to improve their lives. Sincerely yours,
Rabbi Allen Juda President
Debbie Zoller, MSW, LCSW Executive Director
We remained dedicated to our community’s older adults’ physical, financial, emotional and social needs. In local residential facilities, we provided monthly Shabbat services and engaging holiday programs and gifts. Our older adult clients also have access to our ride-sharing program as well as check-in calls and visits from our friendly staff and volunteers.
MAZEL J CAFÉ
Mazel J Café is a program bringing together older adults with cognitive and/or memory challenges for socialization and fun programming. At the pilot program in April, participants enjoyed six sessions featuring activities like chair yoga, drum circles and writing workshops. This successful program will continue in 2018-19. Call JFS for more information.
SHOPPING & SHARING
Shopping and Sharing pairs volunteers with older adults for a fun afternoon out. At the pilot program in September, three women and a crew of volunteers headed to Boscov’s for shopping and socializing. The women found new clothes for the High Holidays as well as a sense of camaraderie with the volunteers.
MAZEL MEALS
Mazel Meals helps older adults who have trouble getting access to fresh, home-cooked kosher meals. At the pilot in January, volunteers worked to prepare kosher meals for older adults, including a Shabbat chicken dish along with green beans and a carrot soufflé, with the help of ingredients donated by local stores. These fresh meals were delivered in Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton. The packages also included minestrone soup, rice salad, challah and chocolate chip cookies made by community agencies and synagogues.
JFS held
48 SHABBAT & HOLIDAY EVENTS facilitated by volunteers across the Lehigh Valley
Our Community Food Pantry provided emergency assistance, irrespective of religion, to an average of 130 families a month in the 18104 area. The pantry also serves Jews across the Lehigh Valley and offers a kosher selection. Thanks to generous donations, the pantry is stocked with an assortment of food and goods, including fresh produce and personal items like toilet paper, shampoo and diapers, and maintained by dedicated volunteers.
PLANT A ROW
Plant a Row gave our clients access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Volunteers of all ages planted, harvested and delivered produce to the pantry from Monocacy Farm and other farms in the community as well as their own backyards.
CARLY’S BIRTHDAY BACKPACKS
Our food pantry often provides more than food. With the help of 5-year-old Carly Kudryk and her family, we raised $4,500 to purchase backpacks and school supplies for 150 elementary and high school students in the Lehigh Valley. The backpacks were distributed directly to four local schools as well as to the children of our food pantry and counseling clients.
PRODUCT DRIVES AND FEATURED ITEMS
We make a point of letting the community know our specific needs for the food pantry so we can better serve our clients. We do this by featuring “items of the month” and holding drives when warranted. This year, we featured a Coats & Cocoa drive in the fall as well as a Thanksgiving drive. Throughout the year, we asked for items like coffee, cereal and toothpaste to make sure our pantry remained fully stocked.
225 FAMILIES
received food and essential items from our
FOOD PANTRY throughout the year
We provided a full range of counseling services to individuals, couples, families and groups of all religions and backgrounds throughout the community. Our staff of social workers and counselors is highly trained and skilled in working with adolescents, teens and adults.
JEWISH DISABILITY AWARENESS AND INCLUSION MONTH
JDAIM, or Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion Month, was a priority for us this year. Our clinical coordinator and resource specialist, Susan Sklaroff-Van Hook, represented the Lehigh Valley Jewish community at Jewish Disability Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C., and advocated on issues like Medicaid, block grants and the passage of the bipartisan IDEA Full Funding Act. We also hosted a community program with the Federation, JCC and Congregation Brith Sholom.
CASE MANAGEMENT SERVICES
We provided case management services for 50 clients this year. Case managers do assessments, create treatment plans and work with the client and various agencies in an effort to meet their needs.
SUPPORT GROUPS
Support groups bring members of our community to share strategies, frustrations, and successes with others who share a common life challenge. This past year, we hosted a growth and support group geared toward those living with the challenges of a chronic condition. The groups are facilitated by our trained staff and open to participants from all walks of life.
80% OF OUR CLIENTS RECEIVE partial or full
SCHOLARSHIPS for counseling services
THERE’S A VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY FOR EVERYONE! People of every age and stage of life are welcome to join our growing group of dedicated volunteers. As part of the process, each new volunteer meets with our volunteer coordinator to find his or her perfect fit. Once each volunteer finds the right opportunity, the volunteer goes through our customized training program.
THIS YEAR, OUR VOLUNTEERS…
• Filled the shelves of our Community Food Pantry with nutritious food and household goods. • Led monthly Shabbat services for older adults living in residential communities. • Picked up bread and other donations from Weis, Wegmans and Wawa. • Blew the shofar for older adults unable to visit a synagogue at the High Holidays. • Harvested vegetables for the Pantry with Farmer Bob at Monocacy Farm. • Shared time with older adults through phone calls and visits. • Baked honey muffins and Chanukah cookies to spread holiday cheer. • Delivered food to people who have trouble leaving their homes. • Assembled goody bags of treats on four different holidays serving 60 older adults in the Jewish community. • Decorated cards for clients’ birthdays, holidays and other special occasions. • Put on Purim plays in costume to brighten the holiday for older adults. • Knitted hats, blankets and other warm clothing for people in need. …and much more! If you would like to donate your time to help people in need, contact Volunteer Coordinator Chelsea Karp at 610-821-8722 or ckarp@jfslv.org, and check our website for the most up-to-date listings.
MEET AUDREY NOLTE AND CARAH TENZER
The Volunteer Force Behind Our 8ish Over 80 Fundraiser Going into its third year, 8ish Over 80 honors older adults in the Jewish community who have set an example for future generations about what it means to be involved and volunteer. As co-chairs of the event and volunteers themselves, Audrey and Carah are responsible for organizing every detail. Audrey was motivated to become involved with JFS after she retired in 2015. She began by organizing the annual Phyllis Ringel Memorial Lecture, then volunteered to co-chair 8ish. “Although I never considered myself a fundraiser, I was intrigued by the idea of a community-wide celebration of mensches and role models,” said Nolte, who enjoys creating “purposeful programming.” For her, the project “exemplifies the mission of Jewish Family Service and has invigorated my personal sense of service.” Carah began her involvement with JFS as an intern while she was attaining her master’s degree in social work. She joined the board the following year “so I could give back to the agency that had provided me with experience, education and guidance,” she said, and soon began looking for a volunteer project she could spearhead. When she heard of 8ish, “I knew right away that I loved every aspect of the idea; from the community involvement, to the honorees, to the event itself,” she said, and she began an “incredible partnership” with Audrey, JFS staff and a crew of volunteers to organize the event. “We have a great committee of volunteers, and I’m being honest when I say that planning 8ish feels more like getting ready for a party than work!”
OUR VOLUNTEER BASE DOUBLED IN SIZE THIS YEAR,
enabling us to dedicate a much greater amount of time and effort to each of our projects.
Jewish Family Service wishes to thank the generous community members* who have made a gift to our endowment fund or who have vowed to support our organization in their wills, trusts, retirement accounts and life insurance policies through LIFE & LEGACY. *as of July 2018
RONY ACKERMAN JAMES MUETH ROSS BORN TAFFI NEY WENDY BORN AUDREY ALEXANDER NOLTE EDWIN DAVIS ROBERT ROCKMAKER RABBI MELODY DAVIS ALEX & ROBIN ROSENAU GLENN & JAN EHRICH MARK H. & DEENA IRIS EPSTEIN SCOBLIONKO DAVID EISKOWITZ LYNNE SHAMPAIN BRIAN & EMILY FORD RABBI MICHAEL & GARY & PATRICIA ALEXIS SINGER GLASCOM MARGARET A. STETTNER HARVEY & MELISSA HAKIM ARTHUR & BARBARA ROBERT & BONNIE WEINRACH HAMMEL RACHEL B, ZANE RABBI ALLEN JUDA DEBBIE ZOLLER WILLIAM & JANE MARKSON LEON ZOLLER MICHAEL & LINDA MILLER ANONYMOUS (4)
$30,000
EXPENSES
$75,000
Salary, Payroll Taxes & Benefits
$30,000
Professional Fees
$18,000
$9,000
$392,000
$27,000
Jewish Fund for Human Needs Fundraising Expenses Marketing Office/Administrative Expenses Capital Improvement
$35,500
$41,000 $117,000 $9,000
REVENUE Therapeutic Counseling Revenue Annual Fund
$146,500 $95,000
Grants Contributions And Fundraising Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley
$137,000
Jewish Fund for Human Needs Endowment Withdrawal
For more detailed financial information, visit our website at www.jfslv.org.
Collectively, our volunteers worked almost 3,400 hours this year, contibuting a monitary value of $74,000 to our agency. This is in addition to the volunteer time of our board and committee members. Tama Lee Barsky Aaron Berger Clara Bergstein Larry Berman Murray Bonfeld Joan Brody Marjorie Caroll Allen Carroll Brandon Charon Jane Cohen Diana DeFanti Doris Denherder Albert Derby Eva Derby Amy Singer Douglass Jodi Eichler-Levine Roberta Epstein Leyna Fleischaker Patty Glascom Lenny Glazier Rose Lee Goldberg Ben Grossman Jonathan Hertz Rima Hirsch Arthur Hochhauser Linda Hutter Madeleine Jelensits Irving Kaplan Phyllis Kaufman Beth Kozinn Stuart Krawitz Roberta Kritzer Mary Laronge
Alli Lipson Stacey Lipson Silvia Mandler Janis Mikofsky Rose Miller Daniel Morgenbesser Leon Papir Howard Pitkoff Jane Pitkoff Bob Post Andrea Reich Ilene Ringold Bobbie Rudolph Lenny Samuelson Naomi Schachter Ellen Schaffer Lenore Scharf Brett Schwartz Ron Segal Shelby Shankman Rachel Shurman Barbara Spagnoletti Erica Stein Ignacy (Izzy) Studzienko Lena Szakalay Abby Trachtman Susan Travis Kimberly Valuntas Beverly Volk Stephen Volk Alex Wood Leon Zoller
JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE IS A RESOURCE FOR THE COMMUNITY BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2017-18 Rabbi Allen Juda PRESIDENT
Robin Rosenau VICE PRESIDENT
Bill Bergstein VICE PRESIDENT AND TREASURER
Carah Tenzer SECRETARY
Susan Berman VICE PRESIDENT
Wendy Born PAST PRESIDENT DIRECTORS Marcia Berkow
Rabbi Melody Davis Brian Ford Dr. Harvey Hakim Barry Halper Rima Hirsch Audrey Nolte Mark Pinsley Lorrie Scherline Rabbi Michael Singer Dr. Rachel Wilensky Herman Ytkin
STAFF 2017-18 Rebecca Axelrod-Cooper, MSW, LSW COMMUNITY IMPACT COORDINATOR Ellen Feldman, MA CASE MANAGER Chelsea Karp VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR Linda Krause BOOKKEEPER
Rose Miller/Sharon Gayner FOOD PANTRY COORDINATOR Sandy Mittman RECEPTIONIST
Susan Sklaroff-Van Hook, MA, LPC CLINICAL COORDINATOR AND RESOURCE SPECIALIST
Judy Murman OFFICE MANAGER
Carol Wilson, LSW CLINICAL COORDINATOR OF OLDER ADULT SERVICES
Wendy Rapoport, MSW, LCSW CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKER
Debbie Zoller, MSW, LCSW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Marcia Schechter, MS, RN OLDER ADULT OUTREACH
2004 W. ALLEN STREET ALLENTOWN, PA 18104 610.821.8722 WWW.JFSLV.ORG