News & Impact

JFCS’ Gary Shupin Independent Living Community is thrilled to announce the opening Gary’s Place, a beautiful new residence for young adults with disabilities. Offering a warm and welcoming community and comprehensive professional services, Gary’s Place is part of the JFCS ‘urban kibbutz’ in the heart of San Francisco. Just around the corner from JFCS’ Shupin House in charming Laurel Heights, Gary’s Place welcomes those who are ready to move out of their family homes and take the first steps towards independence. Residents learn skills such as how to manage finances, keep a clean home, prepare meals, and navigate transportation and… Read More

When Aaron turned 25, his frustration at not being able to move out of his mother’s apartment and be more independent grew. His mother, Judy, wondered how Aaron would be able to take this step. With his developmental and physical challenges, Aaron struggled to manage everyday tasks—like preparing a healthy meal and keeping track of his medications and medical appointments. As a single parent, Judy feared what would happen to Aaron if something happened to her. Mother and son felt stuck—and all on their own. Then a friend suggested Judy call JFCS. For more than 20 years, individuals of all… Read More

In the midst of the pandemic, Dr. Carl Grunfeld, member of the JFCS Board of Directors, reached out the JFCS Holocaust Center to donate an important piece of his family history. The passport belonged to Otto Schwarz, Carl’s uncle, who was born in Viersen, Germany in 1904. When Kristallnacht unfolded, Otto raced home and jumped over a wall to escape the Nazis. Days later, he returned to look at the wall and realized he could not jump high enough to even get his hands on the top. As Carl recalls, Otto “spent the rest of his life wondering how he… Read More

For Michael Rolnick and Linda Himelstein, community service is an essential family value. As they were raising their children, Jillian and Ben, in Hillsborough, Michael and Linda made it a priority to model the importance of giving back. “We wanted to nurture in our children a lifelong habit of giving back—not just money, but also time,” says Linda, an award-winning author and journalist. “This should be a vital part of life.” They began volunteering as a family at the JFCS Peninsula Food Bank. When Jillian and Ben were in high school, they participated in the YouthFirst service-learning and leadership development… Read More

Caryn Siegel, a spiritual care volunteer for JFCS’ Jewish Chaplaincy Services serving Stanford Medicine, has been dedicating her time to supporting hospital patients for fifteen years. Caryn offers her patients a compassionate presence and a listening ear. She also brings insight from a very personal experience. In 1987, Caryn’s son, Ilan, was born at Stanford Hospital severely disabled. Ilan was in and out of Stanford’s Intensive Care Unit for the next seventeen years of his life. Caryn vividly remembers sitting in the hospital with her husband, Mark, over the years—the two of them feeling very alone. When Ilan passed… Read More

Last month, an alarming incident in Marin County schools reminded us that antisemitism exists, even in our own backyard. An Instagram account associated with Redwood High School in Larkspur named specific Jewish students in Marin and asked for followers to contribute to a list of names. The account was titled “Redwood students organized (against) semitism.” This incident represents an urgent and growing problem—what has happened in Marin schools is unfortunately not unique. Acts of antisemitism have been reported in schools across the Bay Area, most recently in San Mateo County, and represent a larger, national shift. A study released … Read More