News & Impact

The last thing Gillian remembered was crossing the street on a green light. When she woke up, she was in the ICU, hooked up to machines and in a body cast. Doctors told her she’d never walk again. “I cried for my mum,” Gillian recalls. “I wasn’t thinking straight. My mother had died years ago in Johannesburg.” After months in the hospital, Gillian tried to get back to her life. “But I couldn’t,” she says. “I was angry, confused, and paralyzed—literally and emotionally. I remember when a friend wheeled me into the JFCS building.  I felt at my lowest. I… Read More

By the time Jonah was 30, he’d had more than a dozen surgical procedures to treat Crohn’s disease, a chronic disorder that affects the gastrointestinal tract. The surgeries prevented his debilitating condition from worsening, but they didn’t cure him of it. Because of Crohn’s, he has been unable to have a career. “I was deeply depressed by the way my life was turning out,” he says. “Fortunately, a family friend told me about JFCS’ Disabilities Program. It has been a lifesaver. I’ve not only received emotional support, but also solid, practical guidance and other services that have kept me… Read More

JFCS sends warm wishes to you and your loved ones as Passover nears.We also want to thank all participants in our Seder Sacks assembly and delivery efforts, who bring holiday cheer to the most vulnerable in our community, and our friends who have given to our our Seder Sacks campaign. You can still help with Seder Sacks. Come join us! A special thank-you to Joyce Newstat and Susan Lowenberg, who recently established the Seymour Newstat Endowment Fund, This thoughtful gift supports a beautiful annual seder for Holocaust survivors who attend JFCS’ Café by the Bay, a program that… Read More

Bay Area Reporter by Cynthia Laird Jewish Family and Children’s Services has announced that its board of trustees member Joyce Newstat and her spouse, community and business leader Susan Lowenberg, have established the Seymour Newstat Endowment Fund at JFCS to benefit Holocaust survivors who participate in the agency’s social and educational program called Cafe by the Bay. Read More from the Bay Area Reporter… Read More

The Seymour Newstat Endowment Fund will make distributions each year to support Passover seders for the Café by the Bay program. The fund will exist in perpetuity and will be used for Holocaust education, after there is no longer a need for Café by the Bay programs. It was the joy that a particular JFCS program brought to her father’s life that prompted Joyce Newstat, along with her spouse, Susan Lowenberg, to establish a named endowment fund in his loving memory. Seymour Newstat did not talk much about his life during World War II—which included time in a work camp,… Read More

Jewish Family and Children’s Services (JFCS) is pleased to announce that its Board of Trustees member Joyce Newstat and her spouse, community and business leader Susan Lowenberg, recently established the Seymour Newstat Endowment Fund at JFCS to benefit Holocaust survivors who participate in the agency’s social and educational program called Café by the Bay. Specifically, the fund will support Café by the Bay’s annual Passover seder, which attracts many Holocaust survivors throughout the Bay Area. Remaining distributions from the fund will be used to educate young people about the Holocaust and to advance moral courage, tolerance, and social justice. The… Read More