46,000 California schoolchildren have been diagnosed with the condition known as autism. According to a front-page article in the San Francisco Chronicle on July 13 that's more than triple the number at the beginning of the decade, making autism the fastest-rising disability in the state. Cognizant of the growing need for research and help for families and children with this condition, JFCS launched a Center for Children with Disabilities through its Parents Place program. Here parents can get the support they need to understand the spectrum of conditions known as autism and the resources they can call upon to enable children with this condition to develop to their full potential. 

JFCS has established a Holocaust Survivors Assistance Fund to meet the needs of Bay Area Survivors, estimated to be in the thousands, many of whom live below the poverty level. To meet the pressing need to help them through their last years with dignity and safety, we must raise $3.5 million—$500,000 each year for the next seven years. A donor has come forward with a $250,000 challenge grant for this year. Your gift now will be matched one-for-one. Please help us keep our promise of a better life for our Survivors here in the Bay Area by contacting Shabana Siegel at 415-449-1252 or shabanas@jfcs.org. 

Summer IMPACT is a summer camp for young people entering grades 6, 7 or 8 in Marin County, San Mateo, and Palo Alto. The camp runs August 4 - August 15, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm weekdays. Using JFCS either in San Rafael or on the Peninsula as a home base, campers will learn about social justice, community service and social issues. They will then go into the community to roll up their sleeves and do community service work. The cost is $240 per week, and scholarships are available. Contact Lorraine Harris in Marin at LorraineH@jfcs.org or 415-419-3635 or Romina Avram on the Peninsula at RominaA@jfcs.org or 650-688-3056.

The April 24 San Francisco Chronicle featured this headline: "Bullied 1st-grader ends up in hospital." The seven-year-old boy lives in Oakland and suffered a fractured skull in this most recent incident. A few months previously, he lost four teeth in a playground scuffle at his elementary school. In both cases, older boys were the culprits and there were witnesses. Not all bullying incidents end up as front-page news, but, unfortunately, the story of bullying is all too common. Now, JFCS offers education for parents, teachers and witnesses at our new Bullying Prevention Training Center. Training formats include a half-day Teacher Professional Development Program, a full-day staff training for all school personnel, and a two-hour parenting education program. For information, contact Gloria Moskowitz-Sweet at 650-688-3037 or at gloriams@jfcs.org.

The film festival runs from July 24 to August 11. Volevo Solo Vivere ("I Only Wanted to Live") will be shown at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco on Sunday, July 27 at 4:45 pm. This documentary follows nine Italian citizens who endured Mussolini and the Italian racial laws of 1938, then survived deportation and internment in the Auschwitz death camps. The other film is In the Family, a documentary about the filmmaker's tough choice between removing her healthy breasts and ovaries or risking her high likelihood of developing cancer. Showing August 2 at 5:00 pm in San Francisco and August 10 at 2:00 pm in San Rafael. For more specifics, visit www.sfjff.org or call 925-275-9490.

In partnership with Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, we are lending our staff and volunteers to this effort to identify Holocaust victims by reaching out to their families and friends to offer pages of testimony about those who died. Call 415-449-1258 for more information. 

New JFCS shelter for women in transition set to open next month.  

Read Building Holistic Bridges from Life to Death by JFCS Palliative Care Director Redwing Keyssar 

Read the Washington Post Article on Palliative Care: A New Focus on Easing the Pain  
To learn more, call JFCS' Palliative Care program at 415/449-3749