February is Black History Month, and 2026 is the centennial of this important celebration. This Month shines a light on the many achievements of Black Americans as well as the struggles endured by the community to secure the rights it deserves.
JFCS is eager to acknowledge, honor, and celebrate Black History Month. On February 17, our staff are set to attend the “Black Heritage in Racing Program” at Churchill Downs, followed by a luncheon at the Kentucky Derby Museum. We’re excited to learn about the vital roles Black Americans have historically played in the Kentucky Derby and in horse racing in general.
This follows up on themes we examined last February, in which staff boarded a bus and toured Louisville highlighting locations significant to Black history. Black Americans have always played an important role in Louisville, and it’s beneficial for us to examine the different ways the Black community has enriched our town.
It is JFCS’ vision that all in Greater Louisville live with dignity and purpose; Black History Month is an opportunity for us all to reflect on how to work towards a world where this vision becomes reality.
We’d also like to use our platform to highlight Black History events in Louisville throughout the month. The Louisville Free Public Library, in partnership with the UofL Health Sciences Center Office of Equity and Engagement, will be hosting an installment of its Black History Month Film Series each Saturday of February at the Parkland Library. The films are as follows: Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space on February 7; The Woman King on February 14; Critical Condition: Health in Black America on February 21; and Little Richard: I Am Everything on February 28. These events are FREE with registration at this link: https://www.lfpl.org/bhfilms
Additionally, on February 19, Carmichael’s Bookstore (Frankfort Ave location) is holding a panel of authors Emma McElvaney Talbott, Michael L. Jones, and Ken Clay to discuss the books The Soulful Sounds of Derby Town, Two Centuries of Black Louisville, and Not Far from Freedom. All three of these texts examine Black History in Louisville and its vicinity, inviting participants to grow their understanding of the relationship between their hometown and the Black community. The discussion will be free with registration at this link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/black-history-month-celebration-tickets-1980024912815
Between February 2 and February 28, the Kentucky Historical Society will feature a tour entitled Highlighting Black History in Kentucky. This event goes through the contributions of Black Americans between Kentucky’s early history and the Civil Rights Movement.
Whether or not you attend any of these events, we encourage you to take time this month to reflect on both the barriers the Black community has faced in the United States and the invaluable contributions Black Americans have made to American culture, as understanding Black history is essential to understanding the history and culture of our country. JFCS appreciates Black History this month and every month.
Happy New Year! As 2025 comes to a close, JFCS is pausing to reflect on the challenges we’ve navigated, the milestones we’ve reached, and the impact we’ve made together over the past year.
Right from the get-go, 2025 was a year of both challenge and hope. In January, we launched a new pillar of service focused on immigrants and refugees. We have been committed to serving these populations since our inception, but with the ever-changing and often restrictive nature of immigrant rights in recent times, we’ve realized that we need to take extra effort to ensure immigrants and refugees have access to the services they deserve. JFCS took this time of challenge and fear as an opportunity to commit ourselves to the goal of assistance and relief.
We’d like to thank people like you for helping us achieve this goal! Our annual MOSAIC awards, which honor immigrants and refugees who have enriched Louisville’s community, helped to raise funds for serving immigrant populations. This awards event was attended in record numbers this past May. We received over $63,500 through our MOSAIC awards from generous community members; it is commendable to see the Louisville community demonstrating such concern for the important issues facing society today.
Themes of simultaneous challenge and hope arose once again at the beginning of November, when SNAP benefits were federally cut for a brief period. Our food pantry services, always a staple of JFCS, became a haven for an even greater number of people than usual. We temporarily loosened location-based and frequency-based restrictions to allow clients access to needed food products during this unusually trying time. In November alone, we gave out over 11,500 lbs. of food! Our assistance amidst SNAP cuts even made national news; JFCS’ Sonny & Janet Meyer Food Pantry was highlighted by National Public Radio (NPR)!
Once again, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without your help. We received almost 9,000 lbs. of food donations from individuals and organizations during November! It would have been impossible to keep up with the demand during this difficult time without your help. The Louisville community has continued to prove itself deeply committed to communal well-being.
We’d be remiss not to acknowledge the bittersweet retirement of Director of Programs Mauri Malka, after over 30 years at JFCS. In honor of her, and the thousands of lives she touched over the years, we unveiled The Mauri Malka Fund for Independent Aging, an endowment fund that helps ensure that older adults can continue living independent, enjoyable lives. We are grateful for the many donations we received towards this fund from our community! Information on how to donate to this endowment is at the bottom of this blog.
We continued in 2025 to strive to honor our community’s commitment to JFCS and those we serve. Among the many things we’ve done to strengthen that commitment, in June, we renewed the Oral History Project interviewing over 20 adults from Louisville’s Jewish community and installed The Frank and Barbara Weisberg Family Fund for Jewish Oral History Display. This wall features photographs and quotes from various the interviews, ensuring that their insights and life experiences inspire generations to come.
We held four successful JFCS Community Chats compiling experts on various subjects to give insight into those issues. Our Seligman Series Night of Humor provided laughs, while our Year of Civil Discourse events gave the Jewish community opportunities to have serious, insightful discussions about pressing global issues.
A year as eventful as 2025 will inevitably be a roller coaster. But despite the challenges and stress we faced, we spent 2025 consistently impressed with the people around us. People like you appreciated us and contributed to our services through both good times and bad ones. Whatever is in store for us in 2026, we know we’ll face it with your help, and we’ll always be grateful for you. Happy New Year, and may we continue to help Louisvillians live with dignity and purpose throughout 2026!
If you’d like to further assist us through these times, we encourage you to make a donation by clicking here; by mail; or by contacting Courtney Evans at (502) 322-1928.
Now More Than Ever: Why Your Support Matters in 2025
As 2025 comes to a close, we find ourselves in a moment that asks something important of all of us: to recognize the growing needs of our neighbors and decide how we as a community are going to respond.
Over the past year, JFCS has seen that growing need every day – not as headlines or statistics – but in the faces of people trying their best to build stability, dignity, and purpose in these uncertain times.
JFCS is founded for moments just like this. Our wraparound model of care ensures we meet people where they are and help them reach a place of long-term stability. Families coming for food support are also receiving counseling. Seniors requesting transportation are receiving help stabilizing their home-care assistance, allowing them to stay safe and independent longer. We’ve seen more of these stories over this past year, and it paints a larger picture of more of our neighbors hurting, stretched thin, and running out of options.
What makes this year especially urgent is the widening gap between need and available support. Federal resources that families have relied on for years are now facing significant cuts and interruptions, just as more people are seeking help. At JFCS, we’re seeing this strain across nearly all of our service pillars. The Community responded to the immediate crisis at the Food Pantry when SNAP benefits were halted. But the need for all of our programs has increased and we are asking for your continued support.
Our Annual Campaign matters, now more than ever, because your generosity directly touches the lives of people who are facing some of their toughest moments. Your support doesn’t just fund a single program or address one crisis. It sustains the entire network of services that families, seniors, new Americans, and young people rely on when they have nowhere else to turn. It keeps JFCS steady in uncertain times and gives us the flexibility to respond immediately when our community needs us most, just as we did this year with the launch of our Immigrant & Refugee Services pillar, and again last month when federal SNAP benefits were at risk.
As we approach the final weeks of our Annual Campaign, we invite you to consider the Louisville we can build together. Will ours be a city where people fall through the cracks, or one where compassion is real, where help is accessible, and where neighbors stand together to create stability and hope?
Since 1908, JFCS has walked alongside this community through economic hardship, pandemics, and moments of great change. And in every era, people like you have stepped forward with generosity, courage, and a belief in what is possible when we care for one another.
We are asking for that spirit again today. to help ensure that every neighbor, at every stage of life, has the chance to live with dignity and purpose.
Hope grows when we invest in each other, and in these uncertain times, our friends, our neighbors, and our community deserves hope.
Gifts to the JFCS Annual Campaign can be made easily and securely online by clicking here; scanning QR code below; by mail; or by phone by contacting Courtney Evans at (502) 322-1928.
When Our NeighThe Safety Net Starts with Us, JFCS’ response to SNAP cuts
The Safety Net Starts with Us
At Jewish Family & Career Services (JFCS), we’re seeing firsthand the ripple effects of the ongoing SNAP benefit cuts. This week, more individuals and families have turned to the Sonny & Janet Meyer Food Pantry for help, parents trying to stretch paychecks that no longer cover groceries, seniors choosing between medication and meals, and children feeling the strain of hunger at home. As these government safety nets shrink, JFCS steps in to ensure no one faces hunger alone.
Your support makes that possible. Every dollar and every can of food helps sustain our community’s most vulnerable neighbors through this uncertain time. But as shelves are refilled and families are fed, JFCS’s work continues, because food insecurity rarely stands alone.
Behind every visit to the pantry is a deeper story, a job loss, a health challenge, an unexpected expense. That’s why JFCS exists not only to meet immediate needs but to walk with clients toward long-term stability through counseling, career services, family support, and care for older adults.
Meeting the Moment and the Future
Last year, more than 2,400 individuals and families turned to JFCS for help, a number that continues to grow. Food pantry requests rose by 20%, and mental health referrals surged, particularly among young adults and families. JFCS also reached nearly 600 Jewish individuals through targeted outreach, reaffirming our commitment to serving the Jewish community while welcoming all who seek support.
Rarely does someone come to us with only one challenge. A single mother may seek career counseling and discover food support. An older adult’s family may request transportation help and find connection through volunteer companionship. A young person in therapy might also find direction through career guidance.
This “wraparound care” is what makes JFCS unique, helping people move from crisis to stability, and from survival to self-sufficiency.
“JFCS has always been about creating certainty in uncertain times,” said Dr. David Finke, Chief Executive Officer. “Whether someone is facing food insecurity, mental health challenges, or job loss, JFCS helps individuals and families address multiple challenges and move from crisis to stability.”
Why Your Support Matters Now
The need for interconnected services is growing as cuts to essential programs deepen the gaps in senior care, immigrant and refugee support, food access, and rent assistance. The JFCS Annual Campaign ensures that our agency can remain flexible and responsive — meeting emergency needs today while building long-term pathways to stability tomorrow.
Your gift to the Annual Campaign does more than stock shelves. It sustains counseling for those in crisis, job coaching for those rebuilding, and care for older adults seeking safety and companionship. It allows JFCS to remain a reliable, trusted source of help, one that adapts as our community’s needs evolve.
“Community donations make up the difference,” Finke said. “They help us keep families in their homes, food on the table, hope within reach, and help here when it’s needed most.”
Be the Difference
This is the moment to make a difference. With rising needs and limited funding, every dollar counts, keeping our pantry shelves full, our counseling services accessible, and our programs for families, immigrants, and older adults running strong.
Our Annual Campaign fuels this work year-round, ensuring that when one safety net falters, our community’s strength rises to meet the need.
“Our community’s strength has always come from our willingness to show up for one another,” said Finke. “For many, this campaign is more than a fundraising effort, it’s an invitation to join in Tikkun Olam, repairing the world, one family at a time.”
How to Give
Gifts to the JFCS Annual Campaign can be made easily and securely online, by mail, or by phone. Donors may also give through a donor-advised fund (DAF), IRA qualified charitable distribution, or employer matching gift, all of which count toward the campaign goal.
Together, we ensure no one faces hunger or hardship alone, and that hope is always within reach.
URGENT NEED!
The upcoming impact of cuts to SNAP benefits will directly impact our food pantry during our busiest months of the year (the holidays). We need your help to keep our shelves stocked during these uncertain times. Click the picture to help a family today!