Shabbat Shalom { From Susie Forer-Dehrey }

I am excited and honored to be writing one of the first Shabbat posts on our new JFS blog! I have worked for Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles for more than 25 years, and I continue to be impressed by the creative methods our agency uses to reach out to the community. We hope you enjoy learning more about us through this blog.

A week from tonight, Jews all over the world will celebrate the holiday of Passover. The story of Passover shares many of the same themes with the work we do in Jewish Family Service. Since the Hagaddah (the book we read during the Passover Seder) states that we should each feel as though we were personally freed from slavery, the holiday provides us with the opportunity to reflect on our freedom while reflecting on the responsibilities that freedom demands.

Our JFS Board of Directors, staff, volunteers, and donors take that responsibility seriously. We make sure that our work reaches those in our community who struggle with issues of hunger, domestic violence, homelessness, to name a few. Our programs and services are designed to reach these people and to provide them with the tools they need to deal with those challenges. 

We are grateful to our supporters who help make this possible. 

Wishing you and your families Shabbat Shalom, and an early Hag Sameach (Happy Holidays)!

Susie Forer-Dehrey, LCSW

JFS Chief Operating Officer

JFS "Family Portraits" - Sally's Retirement Party

Several days ago, longtime JFS Staff Member Sally Weber retired from our agency after more than 24 years of dedicated service. We honored Sally with a special celebration featuring remarks from many members of the community her work has touched throughout the years, and a delicious afternoon tea!

JFS CEO Paul S. Castro, Sally Weber, JFS Chief Program Officer Vivian Sauer, and JFS COO Susie Forer-Dehrey before the festivities at American Jewish University.

We will miss you, Sally!

Shabbat Shalom { From JFS Communications }

It’s finally Friday! The past few days have been very busy, and now that the week is coming to a close, we are excited to bring you our very first Shabbat message.

We three ladies of JFS Communications – Jennifer, JFS Director of Communications; Jordan, JFS Communications Associate; and Melody, JFS Communications Coordinator – work hard every day to make sure that the brochures, emails, newsletters, flyers, and posters we create represent JFS in the best possible way. We are extraordinarily proud to be a part of this wonderful organization, and are constantly inspired by the work the agency and our colleagues do for the community.

Our job is unique in that in order to do the work we do, we have to constantly keep up with the goings-on of many different parts of the agency! Recently, as part of a project we’re working on for JFS, we got to visit many different programs and services all throughout the city. At every location, we were impressed by the quality of care we saw and the genuine smiles on the faces of our clients.

We’re looking forward to sharing more exciting updates with you soon! In the coming weeks we’ll share some fun new photos, a behind-the-scenes look at one of our largest programs, and more personal messages from JFS employees just like us. Stay tuned for all that and more!

Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful weekend. Shabbat Shalom! 

The ladies of JFS Communications

Jordan, Jennifer, and Melody

Welcome!

Welcome to Behind the Scenes with JFS, the official blog of Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles! We’re so glad we’re here!

Are you familiar with JFS? If not, here’s a little bit about us. We’re the oldest charitable organization in Los Angeles – for more than 150 years, we have helped improve the lives of countless men, women and children of all religions, ethnicities and ages. We counsel families, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and protect the vulnerable.

Besides this blog, you can find us all over the web! We have an active Facebook account, we love posting on Twitter, we upload lots of event pictures to Shutterfly, and we keep our website updated with lots of information about interesting programs, upcoming events, and different services we offer. We love volunteers, too – if you’re in Los Angeles, we urge you to learn more about how you can get involved with JFS!

Our agency is committed to making a difference in the lives of those in need within our community. We hope you’ll check back often to read all about how we’re doing just that!  We have many exciting posts planned for this blog and we’re looking forward to sharing them with you.

Have a great day!

Jordan 
JFS Communications