Check Out Our Pics!

Did you know? JFS is on Shutterfly!

On our special Shutterfly share site, we regularly post albums full of photos from recent events. This allows members of the community the opportunity not only to view the pictures from the event they attended, but also to download them immediately and arrange for them to be printed!

Here are some pictures from three events that JFS held last week:

JFS { Family Violence Project Spring Boutique 

JFS { Cafe Europa Yom Hashoah Ceremony

Hocus Pocus Focus, benefiting JFS programs for children and families

Check out our Shutterfly site now, and let us know what you think!

Shabbat Shalom { From Remy Bender-Glick }

This week's post comes from Remy Bender-Glick, our JFS Program Campaign Manager, who has been hard at work planning our first Hocus Pocus Focus event alongside JFS Senior Campaign Manager Carol Bar-Or.

Shabbat Shalom!

The workweek may be over, but we're still going strong - this Sunday, JFS will hold our first ever Hocus Pocus Focus event. We are so excited about this wonderful family event, and so is one of our featured performers... check out this great video from magician Justin Willman!

Hocus Pocus Focus: Magic, Food, & Fun! 

Sunday, April 22nd, 2012

Noon - 3:00pm

Featuring a special performance by 

Magician & TV Personality Justin Willman

and

Sleight of Hand Artist Zach Waldman

Skirball Cultural Center

2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049 

Benefiting JFS Programs for Children & Families in Crisis

For more information/to buy tickets, visit www.jfsla.org/magic.

Wishing you and your families Shabbat Shalom - we hope to see many of you this weekend!

Volunteer Spotlight } Genevieve Creech

Today's Volunteer Spotlight highlights the contributions of Genevieve Creech. Genevieve's passion for helping others has helped JFS { SOVA feed many hungry members of our community, and we are grateful for her continued support and involvement! Here, Genevieve shares how she originally got involved with JFS { SOVA.

I am so happy to have the opportunity to be a part of such an incredible source of help for those in need. 

A few years ago, during the holiday season, when so many are doing without, our store (Trader Joes in Toluca Lake) had received an incredibly excessive amount of bread, cakes, cookies, and other baked goods. So much, in fact, that some of it would never even make it to the shelves! It would virtually be discarded straight from the truck! 

Though we were regularly donating our bread to the Burbank Temporary Aid Center, they weren't able to pick up on that particular day, and my manager at the time wasn't willing to store the large quantity. I immediately offered to deliver it myself, to anyone who would receive it. The bulk of it ended up going to JFS { SOVA - 400 lbs, as I recall! I remember James helping me unload it all, and weighing it. I was thrilled! 

Gradually I began to push for our store to donate more than the bread, as I had learned from a manager that previously worked at the Westlake Trader Joe's that it was perfectly acceptable, and common practice to donate all other food items to the food banks. I was glad, but also regretful that our store had not been doing this all along. Burbank Temporary Aid eventually no longer needed our donations, and we began giving our bread to JFS { SOVA regularly. 

The thing that inspires me about JFS { SOVA is the efforts made by all, the passion to make it work, and the abundance that is readily available to those in need. I appreciate having a source of support from those that are truly like-minded. I'm comforted knowing that there are others who feel like I do, and that good food is no longer going to waste.

Shabbat Shalom { From Monique Maas-Gibbons}

This week's Shabbat post comes from Monique Maas-Gibbons, a longtime JFS supporter and volunteer. We're excited to feature her today as she shares one of her favorite memories of celebrating Passover!

It has long been my family's tradition to have TONS of people for Seder. Over the years, I think my parents host an average of 40 people for second night Seder, and have always been generous about including people who don't have other places to go celebrate the holiday. I never thought much of the tradition of inviting people to join the celebration, even though it is clear from the Haggadah that inviting those in need is one of our obligations as Jews.

I was fortunate to attend Wellesley College, and as a native Californian, it was great having family in the area at whose home I could spend all the Jewish holidays. I never had to worry about where I was going to go for Pesach because I automatically assumed I would attend the Seder at my cousins' house, or if they weren't hosting, I would be included wherever they were invited...until my senior year. That year, my cousins decided they were going to visit my cousin's mother in Cleveland for Pesach. And the holiday didn't correlate with Spring Break, so I couldn't come home to Beverly Hills! I wasn't interested in going to the Wellesley Hillel - what was I going to do?

As I complained on the phone to my mom, she said "Well, let me call around." Half an hour later, I had a call from a woman who lived near Wellesley and who was a friend of a friend of a friend of my parents. This very nice lady invited me to share Seder with her and her family that year. So I gathered up my courage and went to a TOTAL stranger's house, where, to my surprise, I discovered that I was one of 70 people invited to the Seder! It had long been this family's custom to open their house to students in the area who were adrift like me. I think the family members numbered 5 people and the rest were students. 25 years later, it still stands out in my mind as one of the most rollicking Seders I have ever attended, with tons of delicious food, a great crowd and lots and lots of singing. It was a fabulous and generous and very loving atmosphere. This family really did embody the phrase: "Let all who are hungry come and eat..."

Chag Sameach!
Monique Maas-Gibbons

Monique and her family

And on behalf of Jewish Family Service, we wish you and your loved ones a very Happy Passover!