News & Impact

For James, 7, making friends didn’t come easily. He had a hard time sitting still. He was impulsive and would often blurt things out in class. He had trouble starting conversations with his classmates and he struggled with sharing and taking turns on the playground equipment. Fortunately, James’s first-grade class is one of the happy participants of social skills groups facilitated by JFCS’ Parents Place. James’ teacher started him in the group and within a  few months he was coming out of his shell, engaging more with his peers and, to his surprise, he even made a friend. Soon… Read More

At 83, Mrs. Bernstein has been doing fairly well living alone in her San Francisco apartment. As a Holocaust survivor and legally blind she is a homebound client of JFCS and receives case management and Kosher Meals on Wheels each day. Recently, she needed help installing grab bars to improve her bathroom’s safety. JFCS’ newest volunteer project, Mensches On the Go, will bring more clients access to a variety of skilled volunteers to complete short-term projects throughout the Bay Area who need a little extra help. Merle Kovtun has been a true mensch volunteering with JFCS for almost 20 years,… Read More

Kerri Lehmann was a young working mother when she first walked into JFCS’ Parents Place. What she found was great parenting advice and connections with other parents while she was juggling the demands of career and family life. Fast forward two decades—Kerri is now an ardent and instrumental JFCS leader who is serving in her fourth year on the JFCS Board of Directors and she co-chaired this year’s Fammy Awards Gala along with her husband Mark. Her warmth and magnetic personality made this year’s event a wildly successful one. But it was Kerri’s drive and enthusiasm to do even… Read More

JFCS’ adoption program, Adoption Connection, has been placing babies into adoptive families’ homes successfully for over three decades and the program has recently widened its service eligibility—opening its doors to families who want to adopt and reside anywhere in the United States. Previously Adoption Connection required that adoptive families live within one of 19 Northern California Counties. Using the latest marketing strategies to locate birthmothers who want to make an adoption plan and by providing exceptional counseling to expectant mothers, Adoption Connection has established a reputation as a premiere adoption agency. And since adoptive parents do not need a… Read More

J Weekly By Dan Pines When Bay Area public school students return to class in August, their education on the Holocaust will take a new and decidedly musical turn. The S.F.-based JFCS Holocaust Center has launched “The Children of Willesden Lane Bay Area Big Read,” a course for middle- and high school students. Read more at the J Weekly >… Read More

J Weekly By Patricia Corrigan …S.F.-based Jewish Family and Children’s Services provides respite care four hours a week and Graham visits her parents in San Francisco every weekend. “My father was my heart and soul. He was supposed to teach my kids to play tennis and to play music. And he can’t,” she says. “Because my mom has been bound to her home for three years now, she has lost her youth, her ability to work and all her friends.” Read more at the J Weekly >… Read More