A big thank you to our  partners, too. Almost 300 gifts  were collected and distributed.  Each year we ask our clients to  tell us what they would like for  Chanukah. All sorts of requests  come in. This year, one family  requested bedding and pots and  pans to set up a new apartment,  while another family requested  Legos for their youngest and art  supplies – a sketchbook, pens,  and charcoal pencils for their  teen. One senior asked for a warm  blanket. We know we can count  on our community to bring a little  extra joy to those in our community  who might not otherwise be  able to celebrate.

 All of the programs  and services are designed to engage,  empower, and enrich with a  goal of stabilizing and enhancing  the lives of those it serves which  is accomplished through four  main areas of focus: Counseling  and Domestic Violence Services,  Senior Engagement and Holocaust  Survivor Programs, Crisis  Response and Assistance, and  Community Programs and Education.  

In order to deliver the most  meaningful, relevant programs  and services that meet the community’s  need, JFS closely monitors  and takes note of emerging  patterns and trends. It’s what  guides the agency and helps determine  its offerings.  

Over the past two years, there  has been a significant rise in the  number of inquiries and requests  for services. This growth is not  just in one main focus area, but  from several. Increased calls for  emergency groceries from our  food pantry, people asking for  assistance with finding affordable  housing, help with navigating  resources, and then there are  those that are asking for increased  dollars amount when facing a financial  crisis. The call volume  and the services delivered have  grown immensely. For example,  in 2018, JFS served more than  twice the number of clients for  therapy then the previous year,  reaching an all-time agency high.  According to Howard Olshansky,  Executive Director, “As JFS has  continued to respond to the growing  needs of our community, it’s  become clear that we need to establish  a plan that allows JFS to  grow its capacity in a way that  ensures our ability to continue to  meet the needs while at the same  time maintaining the quality of  our programs and services.”  

In response to the growing demand,  during this year’s strategic  planning process, JFS identified  priority areas for the organization.  “When we looked at the  data and trends, it became clear  that there were a couple of significant,  pressing areas of need for  our community: older adults and  those coping with mental health  challenges,” stated Olshansky.  The older adult population is  growing in numbers and in geography.  JFS is now responding to  the needs of seniors down in Sun  City, SC, across Union County,  and in Lake Norman. And because  people are living longer  the issues related to aging are  more complex, JFS is creating a  Senior Engagement Department  and has hired a Senior Engagement  Therapist, who specializes  in delivering services in a community-  based setting, as well as  providing traditional therapy services  in the office.  

At JFS, we are also seeing increasing  levels of trauma in individuals,  kids, and families. In  order to respond swiftly and appropriately,  JFS trained and certified  its staff in the Triple P Positive  Parenting Program, which  helps families respond to issues  affecting teens and children and  issues related to topics such as  social media, bullying, depression  and anxiety. Rachel Green,  Program Director, indicated “at  JFS we are continuously looking  at ways to develop and stay on  top of best practices to enhance  the competencies of our staff. In  addition to the parenting training  staff has received, training is  being planned in areas such as  trauma-informed care, diversity  and aging and emotional health.  We want to ensure that JFS is  able to offer a diversity of clinical  interventions to meet the diverse  needs of our clients.”  

Serving the community to the  best of our ability means anticipating  needs and being prepared.  “I’m very proud that we have  always been able to serve those  in need, especially those in crisis.  We have never had to create  a waiting list for services,” said  Olshansky. “When I started here  in 2016 we had nine staff. We  now have 14. In fact, just this past  month, JFS acquired additional  space on Shalom Park because we  ran out of space in our existing offices,”  he added.  

Thanks to the generosity of our  community, we have been able to  grow our financial resources to  support the increased staffing and  meet the growing needs.  

As the needs continue to grow,  as we have seen in 2019, strengthening  our infrastructure is also  one of our strategic priorities. Ensuring  that we are well staffed and  have the administrative, financial,  and technological tools needed  in-house means that our clients  will continue to receive the highest  quality care and best services  possible.Y

As food pantries have grown  across the US, so too has the food  pantry at JFS. What started over  30 years ago, serving just a handful  of clients, helped almost 700  individuals and 336 families last  year. Designed to serve those in  the Jewish community who have  been identified as food insecure,  without the resources to provide  complete meals for themselves or  their families, the JFS food pantry  is a vital part of our Jewish community.  Once qualified, recipients  are given the opportunity to  “shop” every other week, by filling  out a menu request form. And  while some people have a hard  time thinking that Jews anywhere  could be short on food, especially  in Charlotte, the numbers of  people accessing the pantry, the  number of visits to the pantry, and  those calling for emergency bags  of groceries is on the rise.  

The Charlotte community is a  generous one and the pantry benefits  from individual contributors,  affinity groups and larger organizations  that help keep the pantry  stocked and running. JFS Community  Liaison and Volunteer  Coordinator, Roberta Rodgers,  ensures the operations of the pantry  run smoothly. “There are lots  of moving parts to keep the pantry  running and also to ensure that  each client is getting what they  need and want – we do our best,”  Rodgers said. “For some of our  senior clients who are ‘shut-ins,’  who are unable to get to the pantry,  we take their orders over the  phone and ask one of our volunteers  to deliver their order.” 

Rodgers explains that once  a month an order is placed with  Loaves and Fishes, an organization  serving Mecklenburg Country  who is dedicated to supplying  groceries for people in need.  JFS is considered one of their  mini-pantries. Smaller businesses  too like Poppy’s bagels contribute,  allowing our volunteers to  pick up bagels each week. “We  have a lot of volunteers, doing  many different things,” Rodgers  said.  

Frada Mozenter, a retired librarian,  and a dedicated JFS  pantry volunteer for the past 7-½  years organizes and sorts through  incoming donations. She collects  donations from the bins throughout  Shalom Park, completes a  weekly inventory, creates the  menu, and fills client orders. She  has seen many come and go over  the years in the pantry. “When I  no longer see the younger clients,  I often wonder if they got back on  their feet or if they simply came  on a day I was not there, or even  if they’ve moved. I miss talking  with them,” Mozenter said. “I  marvel at their resilience and confident  attitudes, something JFS  helps people with.”  

The Circle of Generous Hearts,  a dedicated group of women who  donate homemade, kosher-style,  individual meals to the JFS Food  Pantry are in large part responsible  for ensuring that the JFS  Pantry can provide Jewish families  with holiday meals for Rosh  Hashanah and Passover. Over the  past 12 months, they’ve provided  1,299 meals to the Pantry; for  everyday needs and for holidays.  One member shared, “We believe  in giving back, and I love to  cook,” she said, “besides, feeding  the hungry is one of the biggest  mitzvahs in Judaism.”  

And thanks to Shalom Park  Community Garden, a place  where Shalom Park community  members have the opportunity for  service, and learning about growing  organic food, the JFS food  pantry clients have received over  150 pounds of fresh produce this  past year, including tomatoes,  squash, peppers, greens, okra,  root vegetables, figs, and grapes.  

And what a blessing it is to see  a child ask for donations to the  JFS food pantry instead of birthday  gifts. We’ve even had adults  do this, too. This sort of giving  is catching on especially at Shalom  Park community and partners,  with food drives held by the  synagogues, schools, library, and  schools. This allows us to provide  supplemental food to clients in  need when they need it the most. 

We are grateful for the outpouring  of support. Each week  a list of items the pantry needs  is listed on the JFS website, at  jfscharlotte.org. The following is  a list of often requested items that  are often difficult to get:  Full size toothpaste, shampoo,  conditioner, bar soap; pasta  sauce, oatmeal, juice boxes,  canned salmon, vegetarian baked  beans, jelly, mayonnaise, ground  coffee, laundry detergent, cookies,  chip, snack items.  Wishing all a happy holiday  season. Thank you for considering  JFS.

Many thanks to The Blumenthal  Performing Arts Center for the lovely room and  The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) Center  for Advancing Holocaust Survivor Care, the granting  body who has funded programs such as this one in order to  connect, engage and enrich the lives of our community’s  Holocaust survivors.