News & Impact

The North Bay fires are causing tremendous destruction. Many in our Sonoma County community are being evacuated and hundreds of homes and businesses have burned. Jewish Family and Children’s Services will provide Emergency Assistance for our community members in Sonoma County. You can help by making a donation to our Emergency Assistance Fund today. DONATE NOW > Or call 415-449-1256 to contribute via phone. If you are in Sonoma County and need help, we encourage you to contact JFCS at 707-303-1500. Our hearts go out to all our friends in the many Northern California counties that have been affected by… Read More

The Christian Science Monitor by Michael B. Farrell and Jessica Mendoza Can kids be encouraged to let go of the virtual world – occasionally – and engage in the real one? Can they stop posting selfies long enough to think of someone else? The answer is yes. But there are bound to be some anxious moments for parents along the way. MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF.—Jake Lee, a tanned California teenager in baggy shorts and a T-shirt, is lounging on the floor of his parents’ midcentury home. They live in a suburban Silicon Valley enclave of tech workers, cyber-savvy kids, and the… Read More

Form a new friendship with a Russian-speaking senior who is eagerly awaiting your visit in San Francisco! All it takes is one hour per week for conversation, short walks, and other enjoyable activities. Not only will it brighten the senior’s life, it will make you feel great, too! Meet the Clients Igor*, a lively conversationalist, is nearly 90 years old and has difficulty seeing and hearing. He is however sharp as a tack and very engaged with life and its existential questions. Because of the limitations of his eyesight and hearing, he has limited ability to be out and about… Read More

J Weekly By Rob Gloster Bay Area rabbis, political and community leaders are among 200 Jewish individuals and organizations across North America condemning the Israeli government’s “callousness and ignorance” in making it harder for same-sex couples to adopt children. The public letter released on July 25 was organized by A Wider Bridge, the San Francisco-based organization that supports the LGBT community in Israel. Signatories included Hillel International, leaders of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Union of Reform Judaism, prominent Jewish LGBT leaders and over 60 U.S. rabbis. Fifty-four local Jewish leaders signed the letter, including state Sen. Scott… Read More

J Weekly By Sue Barnett Gniewoszow, Poland—Twelve years ago, brought her family from San Francisco to Poland to visit the ancestral village of her father. It would be her first time in Gniewoszow, one of the many towns dotting the Polish countryside where Jews made up a majority of the population before the war—and none after. More than 200 of her relatives had lived here. All were killed in the Holocaust in death camps like Treblinka and Auschwitz. Only her father made it out alive. Friedman, executive director of S.F.-based Jewish Family and Children’s Services, wanted to share the… Read More

Since 2013 the Parasol Foundation Trust has partnered with JFCS, making substantial investments in our YouthFirst and Seniors At Home programs to help teens realize their potential and low-income elderly to receive the comprehensive services they need to live as safely and independently as possible. The trust was founded by online gaming entrepreneur Ruth Parasol, originally of Mill Valley and the eldest daughter of Richard Parasol, a Holocaust survivor and real estate developer. Ruth grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and she and her family are committed to adding their philanthropic support to JFCS and our mutual interest… Read More