Volunteer Appreciation Month!

JFCS is grateful for its many volunteers! We don’t know where we’d be without the goodwill of Louisville community members like you. In the 2024 fiscal year, volunteers contributed over 1,700 hours to JFCS, with most volunteers working with the JFCS Sonny & Janet Meyer Food Pantry. We give a special shout-out to Iman Shulti. Julie Hutchings, Tami Penner, Ann Farmer, Cynthia Ingle, and Zina Dubrovensky, all of whom engaged in over 65 volunteer hours with us over the 2024 fiscal year!

We’d like to emphasize our gratitude to have the help of so many volunteers. On Wednesday, April 9 between 11:30 am and 1:00 pm, JFCS is holding its annual Volunteer Appreciation Brunch. We encourage all volunteers to attend these festivities! There will be delicious food as well as wonderful opportunities to interact with fellow volunteers and with JFCS employees. You’ve given so much to us, and we’d love to give a little something to you in return!

Volunteers play a diverse range of invaluable roles here at JFCS. Friendship Corner and Food Pantry volunteers help stock the clothing closet and food pantry as well as assisting clients with shopping during the week and on open pantry days, while Crime Victim Services volunteers offer emotional support to crime victims. Oral History Project volunteers take part in interviewing Louisville residents with stories to tell.

Venturing outside of our organization’s walls, Shabbos Friends volunteers provide the Jewish Sabbath to Jewish seniors living in local assisted-living facilities and nursing homes each month. Friendly Visitors check in on local home-bound seniors to help with feelings of isolation, engaging in hobbies such as gardening, landscaping, and interior design. Community Towers volunteers assist residents of the senior care home with technology.

We’re currently looking for volunteers in a few new opportunities. Immigrant and Refugee Services volunteers will assist clients with English as a second language in practicing conversation, while volunteers with Commercial Driver’s License experience will help train JFCS students enrolled in the CDL program. We’re also on the lookout for workshop volunteers to help with Individual Development Account (IDA) Program topics such as saving, budgeting, banking, buying a home or car, and the like.

Even if you don’t wish to commit to regular volunteering, we provide many opportunities to assist with one-time events. On March 30, volunteers helped pack Passover food bags and sort donations from the Passover Food Drive during our Family Mitzvah event. We had a great time with you all and look forward to seeing you at our brunch!

Meanwhile, our annual MOSAIC awards will take place on May 15, and we need the help of volunteers to keep everything in order. You can choose from a variety of important tasks, from setting up to monitoring attendees during the event to dismantling things afterwards. Please sign up for shift(s) of your choice (and learn more about the specific ways you can contribute on the day of MOSAIC) at this link!

We look forward to seeing you soon. JFCS is always appreciative of your help. Only with the assistance of community volunteers like you could we ever hope to achieve the positive role in the Louisville community that we’re proud to hold! If you’re interested in any opportunities we provide, please contact Michelle Klecner at mklecner@jfcslouisville.org.