A Season of Giving and Community Impact
September is a month of renewal, reflection, and connection for the Jewish community. It’s a season when we look inward to take stock, and outward to see how we can help the world around us. This September brings two great opportunities for our community to come together and make a real difference for others.
On September 18, JFCS will once again participate in Give for Good Louisville, a city-wide 24-hour day of online giving. Sponsored by The Community Foundation, Give for Good Louisville unites the community in support of organizations like JFCS that make Louisville stronger, more compassionate, and more resilient. Gifts made to JFCS during this campaign will fuel vital programs that touch the lives of thousands of individuals and families across all five pillars of JFCS services.
By giving to JFCS during Give for Good Louisville, you are helping us strengthen our ability to meet these growing needs and expand opportunities for people to thrive. An example is our new Immigrant and Refugee Services, where we help newcomers not only secure meaningful employment but also purchase homes and other necessities which ensure that they can set roots and build futures in Louisville. There’s also our Career & Economic Opportunities services; recently, JFCS’s Andrea Brown was named one of the Top 15 Career Coaches in Louisville. And there’s our Sonny & Janet Meyer Food Pantry which is working hard to meet a rising demand from more people in our community struggling with food insecurity.
We hope you’ll “Be Part of Something Good” on September 18, during Give for Good Louisville.
The JFCS page can be visited directly here >
Our annual High Holidays Food Drive is another way our community can come together to help those in need. Many local synagogues have bags for their congregations for Rosh Hashanah. Congregants will return full bags during Yom Kippur, and JFCS staff will collect donations on Friday, October 3. Donations can also be dropped off at the Trager Family JCC or JFCS.
The drive culminates with a Family Mitzvah Day on Sunday, October 5, when families will gather at JFCS to sort donations together. This joyful day includes activities for children and provides an opportunity to teach the value of “tikkun olam” – repairing the world – through hands-on service. To participate, call JFCS to sign up your family.
These two events – especially when so close together – remind us of the power and strength we have as a community when we unite around shared values. Whether through a donation to JFCS during Give for Good Louisville or by filling a bag with food for the High Holidays Food Drive, your actions this month will help bring nourishment, family stability, and opportunity to our friends and neighbors in need all year.
JFCS is proud to stand alongside you in this season of reflection and giving. With your support, we can continue to work toward all in Greater Louisville living with dignity and purpose.
Jewish Family & Career Services recently unveiled at its offices on Klempner Way a new display that is helping preserve the personal stories of Jewish life in Louisville for future generations.
Attendees at JFCS’s Annual Meeting were the first to view the new “Frank and Barbara Weisberg Family Fund for Jewish Oral History” display, which is open to visitors at the JFCS offices.
The exhibit, along with the overarching project, is years in the making. It features 22 participants who recently sat for video interviews where they reflected on their Jewish identity. Each story offers a unique and intimate perspective, and put together, they form a tapestry of tradition, resilience, and evolving identity of what it means to be Jewish in Louisville.
The Oral History project began years ago, in 2001, but thanks to the recent generous gift from Frank and Barbara Weisberg, the project gained a permanent home at JFCS and a new name. Their gift not only helped make the display possible but ensures its continued growth in the future.
“The Frank and Barbara Weisberg Family Fund for Jewish Oral History” honors their deep commitment to preserving and uplifting Jewish voices in our community.
The display itself currently features 22 individual plaques arranged across a dedicated wall. Each 8.5 x 11” plaque includes a photo of the interviewee, a memorable quote from their oral history, and a QR code linking to their full video interview on YouTube. The result is an exhibit that invites reflection, curiosity, and connection.
While the exhibit made its debut at the JFCS Annual Meeting in June, it is now open to the public for ongoing viewing by appointment. If you would like to view the display, you can call the JFCS offices at (502) 452-634 to schedule a time.
The project is far from finished. JFCS is actively seeking volunteers to help conduct future interviews, as well as additional participants who wish to share their stories. As the collection grows, so too will the physical display, expanding to include new faces and voices from across the generations.
“Through this project, we hope to honor the stories and the experiences that shape Louisville’s vibrant Jewish community — and ensuring their stories are never lost,” said Courtney Evans, JFCS Director of Advancement. “We’re so proud of what we’ve started, and with thanks to Frank and Barbera Weisberg, we’re excited about where it can go in the future.”
Those interested in participating contact JFCS by calling (502) 452-6341 or by emailing Courtney Evans at cevans@jfcslouisville.org.
Friends, supporters, agency partners, and community leaders joined Jewish Family & Career Services (JFCS) recently for a heartfelt celebration of another remarkable year of growth and accomplishments at its 2025 Annual Meeting.
JFCS CEO Dr. David Finke marked many milestones for the agency including continued expansion across all five of its core pillars: Clinical Services, Klein Older Adult Services, Family Stability, Career & Economic Opportunities, and the new pillar specifically for Immigrant & Refugee Services that we excitingly launched this past year.
This new pillar, Finke said, comes thanks to a continued partnership with the Jewish Heritage Fund, Jewish Community of Louisville, and other community stakeholders. It reflects years of growth in refugee support. The program offers services such as professional recredentialing assistance, workforce integration, and JFCS’s Match Savings Program, which helps empower families to save toward education, housing, and small business goals.
Finke shared that the agency’s budget has grown 65% over the past three years, and government grant support has more than doubled — a reflection of strategic investments in meeting urgent community needs, he said.
JFCS’s clinical team, the Sonny & Janet Meyer Food Pantry, and the Klein Older Adult Program all expanded capacity over the past year. New providers were added to each program to meet the changing needs of the community.
Highlighting the growing demand for accessible, inclusive mental health care, Finke said that JFCS expanded its support for caregivers, survivors of trauma, youth, and individuals with complex family or cultural needs.
Finke pointed out that JFCS’ Klein Older Adult program piloted a transportation to Shabbat services at local synagogues, and that it continued to lead efforts to address older adult isolation through volunteer-based telephone reassurance calls as well as growing the number of assisted living facilities that have a Shabbos Friends volunteer. JFCS has also been working with the JCRC on a special yearlong project and has been working with some local synagogues on bringing new and unique volunteer opportunities to Louisville.
While touting the agency’s achievements, Finke reinforced JFCS’s ongoing commitment to the Jewish community by reasserting what he told the sold-out crowd at the recent JFCS MOSAIC Awards: that JFCS has worked hard this year to dispel the ongoing myth that JFCS only serves Jews, while also reaffirming its commitment to serving Louisville’s Jewish community.
“The truth is: we serve both — we always have, and we always will!” Finke explained. “JFCS is a safe space where Jewish individuals can access services knowing that their Jewish Identity will be respected, valued, and incorporated into the very programs that meet their needs.”
Utilizing The Brandeis Study of Jewish Louisville, conducted in 2021, Finke highlighted the statistics showing that many individuals and families face hunger, poverty, mental health needs, and substance misuse, and face deficiencies in critical life needs.
That commitment to Jewish identity was also affirmed with the unveiling of the Frank and Barbara Weisberg Family Fund for Jewish Oral History and the inaugural exhibit highlighting 22 interviews that explore Jewish identity in Louisville. This exhibit is now on permanent display at JFCS’ offices on Klempner Way. Finke made a point of letting attendees know that volunteers and storytellers are still being recruited for the next phase of this effort.
Along with agency accolades, JFCS also uses its Annual Meeting to celebrate the achievements for community members and staff highlights with several awards.
Among those honored was Dana Dugatkin, a volunteer with JFCS Shabbos Friends who was named Volunteer of the Year. Congregation Adath Jeshurun was given the JFCS Community Collaborator Award, and the JFCS Homecare Team was given the Bob Tiell/Dave Dobson Program Innovation Award.
The most poignant moment of the evening, however, was Finke announcing the upcoming retirement of Senior Director of Programs Mauri Malka, who has been a steadfast leader at JFCS for over 34 years. Mauri’s legacy will continue to shine through at JFCS, even after her retirement.
Finke announced, in her honor, that JFCS has established the Mauri Malka Fund for Independent Aging, an endowed fund ensuring continued support for seniors to age with dignity and independence in Mauri’s honor. Malka received a heartfelt ovation from those in attendance, and it was a fitting tribute to someone who has worked so hard, for so long, in the service of others. Donations can be made to Mauri’s fund on JFCS’ website.
In closing his remarks, Finke highlighted the need for the community’s continued support of JFCS to ensure its continued mission in the face of uncertain federal grants that fund programs many JFCS clients rely on.
“We are writing the next chapter of JFCS’s story — a story rooted in Jewish values, but written for the whole community,” Dr. Finke concluded. “There may be uncertainty ahead, but one thing I know for sure is that this community cares about its neighbors.”
To learn more about JFCS services, to make a gift to the Mauri Malka Fund for Independent Aging, or to get involved, visit www.jfcslouisville.org or call (502) 452-6341.
JFCS and the Jewish Community: The Ties That Bind
With the 2025 JFCS MOSAIC Awards behind us, Jewish Family & Career Services now turns its attention preparing for our Annual Meeting, on June 24, at 5 p.m. We’re not only hoping to see many members of the community there to help us celebrate, but we’re specifically urging members of Louisville’s Jewish community to come and hear about all the great work – past and present – going on at JFCS.
While our Annual Meeting (like all our services) is open to all, we’re hoping to reach a large number of the Jewish community this year to help dispel some myths we’ve heard in the peripherals recently: “is JFCS here for us?”
It’s a question that stings — not because it’s unreasonable to ask, but because it touches something deeply personal. JFCS was born more than a century ago from Jewish values of serving the entire community. Our agency’s foundation is rooted in Chesed (loving-kindness), Tzedakah (justice), and Kehillah (community) and those values still guide us today — perhaps more than ever.
Few realize that Jewish clients make up nearly 10% of the people we serve annually. From mental health counseling to food assistance, job coaching to elder care, we remain a vital support system for Louisville’s Jewish community.
Our Sonny & Janet Meyer Food Pantry, for example remains the only food pantry in the area offering both kosher and Halal food items, ensuring Jewish families and individuals facing food insecurity don’t have to compromise their values to nourish themselves. Two years ago, we took that a step further and opened a satellite kosher pantry at Shalom Towers, so homebound seniors could keep kosher without needing to travel.
Over the past year, we’ve worked hand-in-hand with synagogues and Jewish leaders to provide emotional and mental health support during incredibly trying times. When the conflict between Israel and Hamas escalated last fall, JFCS sprang into action by offering community members help in processing fear, grief, and confusion through guided discussions and trauma-informed care.
We’ve hosted “Friday Night Talks” at Temple Shalom, Keneseth Israel, The Temple, Adath Jeshurun, and others. These open conversations have created space for learning, and collective healing.
And as antisemitic threats continue to impact Jewish preschools and institutions nationwide, we’ve facilitated sessions for staff and parents at local synagogues — offering tools to handle anxiety, foster resilience, and protect our youngest community members’ sense of safety.
We’ve also doubled down on our Volunteer program and others like Pledge 13 and Shabbos Friends, helping Jewish adults, and especially teens, stay connected to their roots through volunteerism and mentorship. These aren’t just programs — they’re lifelines of opportunities to help facilitate others living out their Jewish values.
It’s not just locally where JFCS’ influence and expertise has been utilized. Earlier this year, CEO, Dr. David Finke, was asked to co-chair the Network of Jewish Human Services Agencies’ (NJHSA) national conference.
Dr. Finke has also teamed up with Rabbi Chottiner to support Jewish youth grappling with antisemitism and identity struggles. And in the coming year, we plan more conversations, more safe spaces, and more dedicated outreach to Jewish youth around issues like substance misuse, anxiety, and peer pressure.
Oftentimes dispelling the myth of JFCS’ outreach to Jews in Louisville comes from the larger myth of “Jewish Invincibility.” In his remarks at the recent MOSAIC Awards, Dr. Finke spoke of his own childhood experience growing up under the myth of being “well off” simply because he was Jewish, when the reality of being a child of a working-class single mother couldn’t have been further from the truth. This long-standing myth is often dangerous as sometimes the biggest barrier to help for the Jewish community is the idea that we’re not supposed to need it at all.
Data from the 2021–22 Brandeis University study of Jewish life in Louisville tells a different story:
- 18% of Jewish adults are the primary caregivers for relatives outside of routine childcare.
- 31% of Jewish households have at least one person limited by a disability or health issue.
- 36% of Jewish adults say they have only a few people they can count on, and 2% say they have no one at all.
JFCS exists because our Jewish values compel us to serve. We don’t assume who is or isn’t in need. We show up, regardless – for Jews, for our neighbors, for anyone who walks through our doors. It’s what we were founded on back in 1908 and what we’ve been doing since. It’s also what we’ve set our sights on continuing into the future.
We invite you to join us on June 24 at 5 p.m. at JFCS for our Annual Meeting as we celebrate the “wins” of the past year, including our work with Jewish families, youth, and seniors — and unveil our exciting vision for the future.
JFCS continues to serve ALL people of Louisville — Jews and non-Jews, of every race, orientation, identity, and background. Not in spite of our Jewish identity, but because of it!
Because to us, Jewish values are not a label—they’re a calling. And we’re answering that call.