Adults & Families

Zhenya Friedman believes that the line between giving and receiving is very thin. For over a decade, Zhenya has dedicated her time to volunteering and helping others, and in that time she has touched countless lives with her warm presence and kind spirit. Yet Zhenya believes that she definitely gets...

Nora, a single mother, has worked hard to build a small but highly regarded local business while raising her only son. In late 2019, Nora was overjoyed to purchase her first home. Almost immediately, the coronavirus pandemic hit and Nora feared having to shut her business down altogether. She spent ...

When Claire was told—after three months of furlough due to the pandemic—that she would not have her job at a Jewish organization to go back to, she panicked. After suffering 10 years of violence and emotional abuse, Claire had just separated from her husband and started rebuilding a life for her...

Mark Bely says that what he knows about JFCS is that it is a go to organization. When you need help, have questions, or want to give back to the community, you go to JFCS. Mark was nine years old when his family left Russia for a new life in San Francisco. His parents, Boris […]...

Just last year, Sarah escaped from a decade-long, abusive relationship with the father of her two young children. She was finally making ends meet on her own when she lost her retail job due to the pandemic. Sarah called JFCS in tears, worried that her sons—who had already experienced so much pain...

Anna P, Recipient of JFCS Educational Loans and Grants, Found Herself on the Front Lines of the COVID-19 Outbreak When Anna P received the JFCS educational loans and grants that allowed her to attend the University of Massachusetts, she never would have believed that she would enter the nursing fiel...

When COVID-19 hit the Bay Area, Israeli-American Jessica Hare knew she wanted to do something to help keep older adults safe. She immediately started looking for ways to volunteer and reached out to her friends at the Israeli American Council for ideas. They pointed her to JFCS, and after her firs...

Upon receiving the news that he had been chosen to receive a scholarship by JFCS’ Financial Aid Center, Avery Cruz was at a total loss for words. But his mother, Deborah, was able to find some, saying, “You have no idea what this means! I was so worried about how we were going to afford [&hellip...

For most of us there will be a time in our lives when a personal crisis shakes us to our very core, and what felt like solid ground under our feet suddenly feels like sinking sand. JFCS’ Emergency Family Assistance Program works with people who are in such a dark place—who are struggling to get ...

Artisanal food products—everything from the tastiest mandelbrot cookie imaginable to the most delicious small-batch jams—are more popular than ever in the Bay Area, but did you know that since day one—that’s almost 170 years ago—JFCS has been supporting just these types of small businesses...