This evening marks the end of my two year term as president of the board of directors of Jewish Family Service of Central NJ. As my term as President of JFS comes to an end, I want to take this opportunity to share the list of accomplishments with you and thank the staff, fellow board members, and community for your support. JFS has approximately 100 full and part time employees who service our many clients with needs ranging from a hot meal delivered to
their door, to play therapy for a child who can’t express themselves verbally, to Hurricane Sandy victims who needed to be rescued from an unsafe environments, to the aging Holocaust survivor needing homecare, to helping a couple adopt a child – JFS is there to help. Our Agency has the privilege of being the lead agency for the state of New Jersey in providing services for aging Holocaust Survivors to the 12 Jewish Family Service agencies across the state. In two years we have seen this grow from $1.5 million
in services to $2.5 million. Under my presidency, I visited all of those Jewish Family Service agencies when we performed our audit on behalf of the German Government. I gratefully acknowledge the Wilf Family for granting our own Café Europa Program for the Holocaust Survivors in Union County additional funds to enhance the program with a festive lunch and entertainment each month. It is greatly appreciated and attendance is record breaking. Our fundraisers, membership solicitations, and food drives have provided increased revenue and the community graciously responded when asked to provide funding for a new Kosher Meals on Wheels vehicle. The program, now in its 13th operation, serves 80 homebound elderly a day. While on the topic of food and nutrition, we started an Urban Community garden in front of our offices in Elizabeth which yielded over 800 pounds of fresh produce last year. This year we hope to produce 1200 pounds. The produce was distributed to the homebound elderly by our social workers and nurses on their home visits. We continue to service over 350 needy individuals and families a month with packages through our Food Pantry Program. Over 1000 emergency packages are given out a year as well.Our Homecare and Home Health Aide services
 are the hallmark of providing vital assistance for homebound elderly to age in place in the comfort of their own homes. We are also the provider of training for new Home Health Aides through funding from the Union County Division on Aging. Thanks to Mark Ginsberg of Garden Homes for spearheading the renovation of a brand new state of the art Home Health Aide Training Center with grants from three Union County based funders.In response to people who are able to pay for home health aide service, we launched Caregivers at Home, a private pay service.The Older Adult Services Department continues to innovate new ways to assist the frail elderly. We continue to work with the Care Transitions Collaboration Program to help reduce hospital readmission rates for seniors thanks to a grant from the Grotta Fund for Senior Care and the Elizabethtown Healthcare Foundation. Our newest program to help Caregivers of Alzheimer’s and Dementia Patients funded by the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, and the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest is up and running with monthly Alzheimer’s Support Groups and a more intense program modeled from the New York University Caregiver Intervention Program. As always, JFS is at the forefront of developing programs to respond to the needs of the community.Through generous funding from the Robin Hood Foundation, MAZON, The Grotta Fund for Senior Care and the Jewish Federation of Greater Metro West, we were able to provide all kinds of services to the victims of Hurricane Sandy last year. I am proud to have played a part in this vibrant organization and leave it fiscally sound. Through the help of Eric Harvitt and many others, our financial commitments were solidified into one sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest.I enjoyed working with the dedicated staff and board members
firsthand. The cooperation show by the staff, plus my many fellow board members are what makes JFS a winning team. I welcome our new board members to this exciting and vibrant organization, some of whom are second generation leaders.Last but not least, I want to extend my best wishes to David Levenberg as the New President. I am sure that he will make an excellent leader. I have enjoyed my two years as president and it has been an honor to serve you.

June 11, 2014

JFS Annual Meeting

Installation as President
I want to thank Abe Suckno for his leadership and guidance over the last 2 years.We’ve accomplished so much under Abe’s administration. Abe has a steady handand calm demeanor in dealing with complex and serious issues, and I really thankI want to thank the staff for their hard work and dedication to this wonderfulagency, and I want to thank the Board and all the volunteers who donate their
Congratulations to tonight’s recipients of Volunteer of the Year and Youth
Community Service Awards. Thank you not only for the work you do, but for the
I want to thank all of the Presidents who came before me, on whose backs we
And what a great agency this is. And do you know why? Because JFS is an agency
that helps people in need. Whether sick, infirm, jobless, stressed, aged, needy,
While JFS is a Jewish Agency, guided by Jewish Principles, we are truly non-
I am so proud to be assuming the Presidency of such an agency, and as I do so, I’m
mindful of the great responsibility to continue the work that JFS does.
Management experts will tell you that the first 100 days of a new position or
administration are the most critical, so I’d like to briefly talk about some of the
initiatives I’ve set for myself in my first 100 days as president.
I will be meeting with the Executive Committee to review all the committees and
committee structures to ensure we are aligned in the most effective manner.

• I’ll be creating an ad-hoc committee to review security protocols in the
agency, including electronic and physical security

• I know from Tom that the Executive Directors of the New Jersey JFS
agencies have long had an informal working group amongst themselves. I
will be reaching out to the Presidents of the other New Jersey JFS’s in the
hope of establishing a similar working group where we can share ideas and
perhaps even leverage resources in such areas as Board Development and

• I will be establishing an ad-hoc Committee to review all organizations that
we receive funding from, and organizations that we pay dues to, to ensure
that we are taking full advantage of any services that may be available to us

• I will be arranging for Board Training to ensure that we all understand our
roles, responsibilities, and how we can deliver the same consistent message

• I will be engaging more people, Board Members and non-Board Members,
to assist JFS in their particular area of expertise. I’ve already spoken to
some of you about helping in specific ways, and will be engaging more of

• And finally, I want to ensure that the Board is as fully engaged as is
possible. So, over the next few weeks I will be calling every board member
– new and old – to hear from you, as to what your areas of expertise and
interest are, what you want to work on, and how you can help the agency.
As well as listening to your suggestions, improvements, and development
I look forward to your support, commitment, and engagement, as together we
continue to make JFS the premier Social Service agency in NJ.

A Message From Tom Beck, JFS Executive Director

As Jewish Family Service is in the midst of celebrating 100 years of service to the community, it is a perfect opportunity to reflect on our accomplishments over the past year as well as the past hundred years. What a noble history the agency has had: from a small group of founding individuals to over 3,000 supporters; from a handful of clients to more than 6,800 served last year alone.  What a staggering commitment to our community, as our statistics will show.

During 2011, we provided homecare services to the elderly and the frail, play therapy to children, and offered emergency financial services to those who, through no fault of their own, found themselves without income or a stable home.  The Economic Response Initiative, funded by the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest, has become a model for helping people find work.  In fact, 300 individuals have been served through this program.  Our goal, as always, is to help people live with dignity and independence.

Our challenge is to evoke a sense of community, that we all make our world a better place (tikun olam- repairing the world): better for our parents who are challenged by aging and dealing with health issues; better for the distraught wife, the unemployed spouse, and the children who are caught somewhere in-between; better for the family that has no roof over their head and no food on the table.

Because of the generosity and humanity of our gifted professional staff, volunteers, and donors, we were able to accomplish the following to make the world a better place for these people:

•   23,000 hours of Individual and Family Counseling, including Social Work and Registered Nurse home visits to the elderly 

• 30,000 hours of Home Care services

• 21,600 Kosher Meals on Wheels

• 366 Group and Family Life Education Programs to 1,500 individuals.  Examples of these programs include: T’ai Chi, blood pressure screenings, parenting groups, health fairs, socialization groups, and others.

• 1,000 individuals helped by our Food Pantry and Food Assistance program

• 2,200 Personal Care Transportation rides to medical appointments 

As the lead agency for the State of New Jersey, we now provide $2 million in funding from The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany for services to Holocaust Survivors across the state.  This is the fifth highest in the nation.

We have become the lead agency of the county-wide Home Health Aide Training funded through the Union County Division on Aging.  During the past year, we led two classes through JFS, now 30 individuals have been able to get their Home Health Aide License.

New this year has been our Care Transitions Program.  We have a Registered Nurse Health Coach who works with patients who have Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Heart Failure to provide intensive follow-up to prevent re-hospitalizations.  Financed by the Grotta Fund for Senior Care and working cooperatively with Holy Redeemer Home Care NJ and Trinitas Regional Medical Center on this new program enables us to be well-positioned to apply for a federal grant in the near future.

Through the many efforts of (and funding from) the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest, we have been able to provide many services to the unemployed through the Economic Response Initiative, as well as receiving $4,000 worth of food through Supermarket Sweep and Super Sunday.  In addition, Federation has helped us launch Project Kesher, which is providing the community with outreach programs this year, ranging from raising breast cancer awareness to family mitzvah projects and lectures on family issues.  We are truly grateful for this partnership.

Thanks to all our funding sources:  The Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest; The Union County Division on Aging; The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany; The United Ways; and so many foundations and corporations (over 60 in all). 

All of this can only continue with the hard work and commitment of dedicated board members, staff, and volunteers from our community.   I urge everyone to contact me at tbeck@JFSCentralNJ.org, or 908-352-8375, if you have some time to donate to become a Friend Advocate for an isolated elderly individual, help maintain our Urban Community Garden, deliver food to a family in need, or donate your professional time to the agency.

I wish you all the best to you and your families for a Happy and Healthy New Year.

What You Can Do to Help JFS Fight Hunger

Jewish Family Service of Central NJ recently received several grants to support the JFS Kosher Food Pantry which provides food packages to over 250 individuals and families a month and 1,000 emergency food packages a year.  In addition to funding from the Federal Emergency Food and Shelter Program, JFS  received generous  grants  from the Ann Earle Talcott Fund, Shoprite Partners in Caring, and Stop & Shop Supermarkets to support our efforts to provide supplementary food packages for people who walk into the agency requesting emergency food.  Proceeds from our recent Art Show and Family Concert helped maintain all of our food programs including Kosher Meals on Wheels.

MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, a California based national nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing and alleviating hunger among people of all faiths and backgrounds, granted JFS of Central NJ $7,000 for our advocacy work to alleviate hunger. Rabbi George Nudell, of Congregation Beth Israel in Scotch Plains, says, "For over twenty years, MAZON has been addressing the problem of hunger, both in the United States and in Israel. Rather than creating another relief agency, MAZON screens and provides funding for organizations already at work fighting hunger, providing strategic initiatives to help people in poverty to become self-sustaining. With over 50 million Americans (mostly children!) and with almost a quarter of all Israelis living without enough to eat each day, the work MAZON does literally saves lives."
 

According to Tom Beck, JFS Executive Director, “JFS is pleased to have been selected once again for one of MAZON’S Partnership Grants to advocate on behalf of those in our community who need food.”  Mia Hubbard, MAZON’s  Vice President of Programs, says “Charitable food programs are struggling to keep up with unprecedented demand, and at the same time government food and nutrition assistance programs are under attack.”  The JFS Food Pantry Program, which helps over 250 individuals and families a month, has seen a sharp reduction in funding from FEMA.  “Funding from MAZON will help us advocate on the legislative level as well as educating the community about the plight of the unemployed or underemployed in our community who are having a hard time putting food on their tables” said Beck.

The Shoprite Partners in Caring Program, The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, and the Ann Earle Talcott Fund are committed to a number of causes including fighting hunger.   JFS is most appreciative to these foundations and to everyone in the community who is our partner in helping alleviate hunger in our community.

In addition, the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest has been a generous partner in helping provide food and support for the Food Pantry.  Their annual Super Market Sweep before Passover  engages the entire community in purchasing food for the Pantry and culminates in sorting and storing the donated food in our main office where the pantry is located.  Donating and packing food is an integral activity for Super Sunday, scheduled this year for December 2, 2012.

Here are some ways you can help:

·    Donate Kosher Food -- JFS has an ongoing Kosher Food Pantry supplying monthly food packages to over 250 individuals and families a month.   The packages consist of non-perishable food items such as canned vegetables and beans, tuna fish, cereal, peanut butter, jam, pasta, crackers, oil, baby food, coffee tea, tomato sauce, etc.  In addition we provide over 1,000 emergency food packages to anyone who comes to our office seeking food.  We accept all kosher food items with a current expiration date on an ongoing basis.

·    Volunteer to maintain the JFS Urban Community Garden at the JFS Elizabeth office.

·    Help Pack and Deliver Food to the Needy—Contact Volunteer Coordinator Elie Bodner, ebodner@jfscentralnj.org, or, 908-352-8375,  if you are interested in donating food, money or your time.

·    Participate in the Supermarket Sweep and Super Sunday activities from the Jewish Federation of Great MetroWest. 

·    Donate funds or gift certificates to allow us to purchase food for the needy.

JFS Urban Community Garden Takes Root

On May 25, the JFS staff began work on their new Urban Community Garden, helped by an eager group of middle school students. Located directly outside JFS headquarters in Elizabeth, the garden currently contains a variety of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and squash. The fresh produce is being delivered in our monthly Food Pantry packages, to the homebound elderly, clients on the Friend Advocate Program, and Kosher Meals on Wheels recipients. The JFS Urban Community Garden will not only supplement our food programs, but provide healthier food to JFS's clients. It has also increased opportunities for Jewish Family service volunteers.

 

The funding for the JFS Urban Community Garden came from a grant from Philips Bayway 66 Refinery, and assistance from Groundwork Elizabeth, a nonprofit organization that seeks to improve urban landscapes by encouraging communities to improve the environment. Representatives from Groundwork Elizabeth assisted in planning the garden, providing plants and valuable information about soil conditions and mulch.
If you would like to help out with the garden, please contact Elie Bodner, Volunteer Coordinator at: 908-352-8375, ebodner@jfscentralnj.org.

JFS Goes to the Cloud: Foundations Fund iPads, "Cloud Software," & Security Badges ot Improve Client Care

JFS has been able to make several upgrades in technology thanks to grants from the Hyde and Watson Foundation, the E.J. Grassmann Trust, the Overlook Hospital Foundation, and the Westfield Foundation, all of New Jersey.  These upgrades are improving our ability to deliver service to clients in and around Union County.   

Thanks to a grant from the Hyde and Watson Foundation and the Westfield Foundation, we upgraded our systems to conform to the latest HIPPA billing systems for Medicare and private insurance. With our software now in the "cloud", JFS began looking into technological ways to improve client care for our nurses and social workers who make home visits.  Thanks to the E.J.Grassmann Trust and the Overlook Hospital Foundation, JFS has purchased iPads that conform to our client software.  Field staff now have the ability to access agency documents and resources including a client’s electronic charts, and make referrals to improve client care all while in the home of the client.  JFS field staff can spend more time addressing clients’ immediate needs in their homes and less time in the office.

In addition, the Union Foundation of New Jersey, generously supported our efforts to upgrade security for Agency employees.  Thanks to this grant, employees gain access to the main office in Elizabeth with electronic badges.  Nurses, social workers, home health aides, homemakers, and Meals on Wheels personnel also wear these badges so they are easily identifiable when in the field making home visits.

Jewish Family Service is grateful to these foundations for their support.

A Message from Incoming President Abe Suckno

I am humbled and honored to have been elected president of Jewish Family Service of Central NJ. This year marks our one hundredth year of service to the community.  What had made the Jewish Family Service not only survive, but prosper during these one hundred years?



Abe Suckno, incoming JFS President, delivers acceptance speech at JFS annual meeting.

 Leadership
From our first president, Al Kessler to our immediate past president Jennifer Pollak, we have been blessed with leadership that is hard working, giving of their personal time, and has an abundance of entrepreneurial wisdom.
From Mildred Hamilton, our first official Executive Director as a professional organization,  to Tom Beck today, we have enlisted the top executive directors. They are willing to give as much time, effort, vision, and professionalism as is necessary to keep JFS in the forefront of community services.
 

Responsive Board of Directors
These are people who give of their time freely and without hesitation.  They are always willing to help the Jewish Family Service, whether it be delivering food, stuffing envelopes, being on special committees or helping the staff.  All of the previous and current board members are always ready to help.

Dedicated Staff
Our staff is distinguished by their relentless effort to help those in need.  From serving the needs of our aging Holocaust victims, to feeding the poor, to helping older adults age in place, or helping couples in their quest to adopt a child, our past and present staff use all of their strength and effort to satisfy a client’s needs.

A Supportive Community
No organization, politician or leader, can survive without the support of the community.  Our successful first hundred years are thanks to the county, corporations, private foundations, the various funds, donors, and most important, people like you.
Of course, I would be remiss in not mentioning that even though we are all affected by the economics of today, there are still those who desperately need our help, and your donations are still the backbone of our survival.

 
Thank you for this honor. I will do my best to help lead Jewish Family Service into its next hundred years.

(Photos by Seth Brown)

Outgoing JFS President Jennifer Pollak delivers her final address and welcomes Abe Suckno as incoming JFS President for a two year term.

Stan and Pearl Ehrlich of Westfield receive Volunteer Awards for their work with the Food Pantry. Stan also consults with the JFS on a number of administrative projects and counsels clients with financial issues.

Susan Klapper of Scotch Plains accepts a JFS Volunteer Award for her work ordering food and supplies for the Food Pantry. She has also been a member of the Fall Concert Committee and the recent Art Show Committee.

Lenny Lauer (right) of Elizabeth, with Abe Suckno and Elie Bodner Volunteer Coordinator (center). Lenny was recognized for his work with the Cafe Europa monthly social group for Holocaust Survivors.

Sonnie Suckno receives her award from Abe Suckno for lending her services a s a real estate broker during the sale of a  house JFS received from a donor, and for her work with Cafe Europa.



Michelle Rosen of Westfield is accepting her Volunteer Award for serving on the Concert Committee, the Art Show Committee, and for working as a Friend Advocate Volunteer.