- Donor Stories
- Named Endowment Funds
For Linda Himelstein and Michael Rolnick, community service is an essential family value.
As they were raising their children, Jillian and Ben, in Hillsborough, Linda and Michael 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.”
Michael Rolnick and Linda Himelstein with their children, Jillian and Ben.
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 program. For Jillian, this led to a transformative internship at the JFCS Holocaust Center.
In 2016, the family deepened their engagement in the mission of JFCS when Michael, a respected and successful venture capital investor and entrepreneur, joined the Board of Directors.
After many years of involvement in JFCS’ mission, Linda and Michael felt that establishing a Named Endowment Fund was a natural next step in their philanthropy. “The Named Endowment Funds offer an excellent vehicle to make a long-term commitment to a specific need,” says Michael.
The couples considered the many aspects of JFCS’ comprehensive system of care before choosing teen mental health as the focus of the Rolnick-Himelstein Family Fund. As chair of the Peninsula Task Force that identified teen mental health as a pressing, under-addressed community need and during his tenure on the Advisory Council of JFCS’ Center for Children and Youth, Michael championed promising solutions to the challenges facing teens and their families.
“One of the insights staff on the front lines shared is that children and youth in the Bay Area face unique difficulties. The relative socioeconomic pressure of growing up in this area is almost unparalleled,” says Michael. “More needs to be done to alleviate this almost invisible pressure.”
Thanks to the Rolnick-Himelstein Family Fund, teens and their families can rely on the Center for Children and Youth for trusted, expert support to navigate all kinds of challenges, build resilience, and learn skills and tools that promote mental well-being.
“JFCS reinforces the social fabric,” says Michael. “Supporting this work is very fulfilling.”
To learn more about building your legacy through a Named Endowment Fund, click here >