News & Impact

When the San Francisco section of the National Council of Jewish Women helped establish an educational scholarship at JFCS benefiting single parents in need, it held particular resonance for NCJW Board member Linda Kurtz, who partnered with the Council to bring the scholarship to fruition. “My father died when I was 11,” Linda says, “and my mother was left to raise six children alone. We became destitute overnight.” Named in loving memory of Linda’s late mother, the Rose Mazursky Memorial Scholarship helps single mothers striving to better their and their children’s lives through educational opportunities. “I know what a little… Read More

Hundreds of supporters are set to attend Jewish Family and Children’s Services’ 31st Annual Fammy Awards Gala, which will be held Sat. evening, Mar. 21, at San Francisco’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel. This year’s gala theme is “One World, One Family,” and JFCS will be honoring community leaders Lydia and Douglas Shorenstein of the Preisler Shorenstein Institute; employees of Cleanerific, JFCS’ innovative cleaning company; and Tamar Sofer-Geri, who formed a support network for parents whose children have juvenile diabetes. About the Honorees: Celebrating its 13th year, the Preisler Shorenstein Institute is pleased to support an important program of the JFCS Holocaust Center:… Read More

When Drew and Flavio met on JDate.com more than eight years ago, they discovered—to their delight—that one of the interests they shared was in raising a family. “I wanted to find a partner with a child who wanted to have another child,” says Flavio, a Brazilian-born psychologist. Drew, a high-tech executive who had been in an earlier LGBT relationship in which he was raising a son, was a perfect match. A few years into their marriage, after considering various options, the couple came to realize that open adoption was the best way for them to grow their family. Their thoughts… Read More

Looking at Helen, you’d think 92 is the new 75. Spry, quick-witted, and intellectually curious, she believed, until recently, she could do it all. But when a pulled muscle in her leg turned out to be severe arthritis in her hip, she acknowledged, “Now I know that I can’t do everything on my own.” That’s when she turned to Seniors At Home, JFCS’ senior care program that had served her late husband so well while in the final stages of Parkinson’s disease. “My laundry was piling up because I couldn’t get up and down the stairs so easily any longer,”… Read More

The facts are clear: Attending a Jewish summer camp as a child leads to a stronger identification with the Jewish community as an adult. Without the generous camp scholarships provided by JFCS, Micah and Rachel, 10-year-old twins on the Peninsula, would have missed out on this vital experience. The siblings lost their Israeli-born father to multiple sclerosis five years ago. Since then, it has been the hope of their mother, Pam, who is struggling financially, to connect her children to their father’s heritage through the Jewish summer camp experience. “But I could never afford it,” says Pam. “JFCS has helped… Read More

CBS SF Bay Area Listen to an interview with Lynne Fingerman, MSW, Director of Adoption Connection… Read More