In the past year, Jewish Family & Career Services has seen an astounding increase in the number of people experiencing food insecurity. We have served double the number of families & individuals and provided more than four times the amount* of food compared to months prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our Food Pantry has met the need of these families & individuals with help from generous monetary donations that people, like you, have made throughout the year. Now, we are excited to announce our Passover Food Drive for March 2021.
Join us in ensuring everyone in our Jewish community celebrates Passover by donating to our Passover Food Drive this March. On Sunday, March 7, and Sunday, March 14, we will be hosting a drive-thru food drive for the Sonny & Janet Meyer Food Pantry.
You can participate by donating the kosher for Passover items our community needs most. At this time, JFCS will ONLY ACCEPT the following items and no glass containers will be accepted:
- 8 oz. bags of pecans
- Matzo
- Matzo Meal
- Matzo Ball Soup Mix
- Macaroons
- Kosher for Passover candy & dessert
- Individual sized grape juice
- Regular sized jars of applesauce
Drive thru drop offs can be made at JFCS on Sunday, March 7 and Sunday, March 14 between 1 – 3 pm.** Monetary donations can also be made in support of the food pantry by visiting our secure, online giving form today.
If you have questions please contact us at (502) 452-6341 x360.
*Measured in pounds.
**Please note: As JFCS staff is still working remotely, the JFCS offices will not be open for additional drop off times.
By Deb Frockt
Chief Executive Officer
Jewish Family & Career Services
We are about to celebrate a second pandemic Purim, and joyous gatherings will again be relegated to some future when we are further down the vaccine road. This circumscribed moment has me thinking about the name of our Purim heroine, Esther, which comes from the Hebrew root meaning “hide” or “conceal.”
Social distancing and lives lived remotely have the potential to further conceal a crisis that was already largely unfolding in the shadows. Even before the ravages of COVID-19, one in five adults in the United States was living with a mental illness. Women were more likely than men to be living with mental illness, while 18–25-year-old young adults were the most impacted of any age group, with nearly 30 percent living with mental illness.
Despite the overwhelming presence and impact of chronic and acute mental illness, as a society, we have struggled to name these medical conditions and compassionately respond to the needs of those whose suffering is often masked in public and reckoned with in private. This was true before the onset of the pandemic, but the cost of continuing to ignore this hidden pain has the potential to be even greater now.
All of us — from school-aged children and youth to unpaid family caregivers — are living through extraordinary challenges. We are in an extended moment of collective trauma, processing in real time even as we try to prepare for a future that will differ from the past we left behind last March.
Well before the start of this crisis, JFCS invested in training to bring the globally-recognized, evidence-based Mental Health First Aid program to our community because we believe mental illness need not be hidden in the shadows.
Mental Health First Aid training gives anyone the tools to notice and appropriately respond to chronic and acute mental health situations. At JFCS, we believe, and this training proves, that each of us can acquire skills to become an empathetic and effective first-responder to those in need of non-judgmental help and professional support.
As we continue to metabolize the impact of prolonged social distancing, learning how to identify and respond to mental health conditions is a positive action each of us can take — for our family and friends, and for ourselves. With thoughtful training and increased awareness, we can reduce the stigma of mental illness so that no one feels the need to hide.
You can register for a public training March or April training, or find out more about scheduling a customized group training, by contacting: mhfa@jfcslouisville.org.
¿Coma estás? How are you? Yolanda Chávez Leyva told us this is the basic, human question she always asks when meeting with children separated from their parents at the U.S./Mexico border.
Dr. Leyva was one of dozens of presenters I had the privilege of learning from in January at the Together We Remember Virtual Global Allyship Summit: Uniting Across Borders, Disciplines and Generations to Turn Collective Memory Into Collective Action in the Fight Against Hate.
JFCS is more than 1,400 miles from El Paso, but Dr. Leyva’s first question is our first question, too: How are you? Whether our receptionist and intake coordinator Anita is welcoming a client in our physical offices or virtually by video, nothing is more essential than the chesed, the compassion and empathy, with which the question is offered and the response received. Our job is to listen, which is as simple as it is difficult. And, listening is what our staff expertly does every day.
Dr. Levya explained that she does not “give voice” to those she serves; instead, she listens. She recognizes, just as we do at JFCS, that people are expert in their own lives and experiences. Whatever we might offer, it can only be of service when we honor that principle.
People who turn to JFCS face obstacles (past and present), but each at their core has unique strengths that propel strides toward the future they see for themselves. When I heard Dr. Leyva describe children and families living through multiple layers of trauma as children and families who are also living through multiple layers of resilience, I could have been listening to any of our counselors, coaches or case managers talking about JFCS’ strengths-based approach as the shared cornerstone of all the services we provide.
Each individual and every family we serve bring their own distinct experiences to our door. We are here to reflect back to them the resilience they have already demonstrated and to walk with them on their particular path of possibilities.
I cherish JFCS and the work we do because JFCS sits at the intersection of our Jewish-American journey and values. Our tradition reminds us that we were strangers, we were once slaves. And, we know all too well how the road to genocide unfolds. So, I cherish this intersection where we can be for ourselves and for others. Where our lived experiences can meet the lived experiences of others. Where each is the expert of their own life, and in sharing the truth of that life in specific and unique ways, we can begin to truly see the undeniable humanity that connects us.
By Deb Frockt
Chief Executive Officer
Jewish Family & Career Services
In 2020, the global COVID-19 crisis tested everything we have learned in our 112-year history as a human services agency. Our clients faced new and unexpected challenges, as did our staff, and we adapted to provide services to those in our community who need it most. Despite these challenges, we were able to impact clients across all of our core service areas and are proud to report that in 2020, Jewish Family & Career Services ensured:
- 183 refugees and immigrants were assisted in career recredentialing and career laddering. This is a 50% increase in the number of people served than in 2019.
- 203 individuals and families were given better access to food, toiletries and household necessities. This is a 45% increase in the number of people served than in 2019.
- 537 Louisvillians were guided through career exploration and transitions. This is a 75% increase in the number of people served than in 2019.
- 847 older adults and family caregivers were given support to help manage the aging process. This is a 32% increase in the number of people served than in 2019.