JFS Perspectives

Last week, the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), Denver Section, held their March board meeting at SHALOM Denver. NCJW is a grassroots organization of volunteers and advocates who turn progressive ideals into action. Inspired by Jewish values, NCJW strives for social justice by improving the quality of life for women, children, and families, and by safeguarding individual rights and freedoms. This group was instrumental in establishing the Utility Workshop in 1954, which was renamed SHALOM Denver in 1978. The members still have a special place in their hearts for SHALOM Denver and have stayed connected through the years.

In addition to holding their board meeting, the group toured SHALOM Denver and was very impressed by the services offered to people with disabilities and those moving from welfare to work. Elaine Long, an NCJW board member, had actually worked as a manager of the Utility Workshop in the 1960s and observed, "You still help people feel productive and have a sense of dignity, but on a much larger scale. It's terrific how this program that started out serving eight Holocaust survivors in 1954 has grown to serve so many and in such a beautiful facility."

Thank you to Arnie Kover, JFS director of disability and employment services, for providing the information for this blog post!

-Alaina Green and Kari Alpen, JFS Marketing Department

We had quite an eventful week at Jewish Family Service and SHALOM Denver! While there are always exciting things happening in our agency on a daily basis, below are a few things we think you'll especially enjoy:

Yesterday, CBS4 Denver aired an inspirational story about the wonderful work SHALOM Denver does to help transition people from welfare to work. View this story and learn more about the program!  Thank you to Xstatic Public Relations for working with CBS4 and our staff to get this story on TV!


Heidi Pittaway, who is featured in the CBS4 story, with her daughters

Also yesterday, BBYO hosted a pre-screening of the popular movie The Hunger Games for Jewish youth in 6th-12th grade. To show that "hunger is not a game," the teens had to bring at a minimum of three canned food items to benefit the JFS Weinberg Food Pantry for admission. And in the spirit of the competition shown in the movie, BBYO had a contest to see which of their chapters would bring the most food. In total, the teens collected 2,200 pounds of food for our pantry! Thank you to everyone who participated and helped make an incredible impact on the lives of people who are in need.


Teens contribute food to their chapters' food bins at the theater

Earlier this week, we said goodbye to Amy Wood who left JFS after nearly 20 years of involvement with the agency. Amy actually started as a JFS board member in 1996 and held various positions including volunteer, intern, case manager, Family Safety Net program director, and finally government and community affairs director. We had a great party to toast (and roast) Amy and her love of flip charts, decision trees, and Venn Diagrams! Her energy, talent, and dedication will be missed!


Shelly Hines, Family Safety Net director, with Amy Wood


Amy's Tenure Timeline posted at the party in honor of her love of flip charts

-Alaina Green and Kari Alpen, JFS Marketing Department

This Saturday, March 10, marks the beginning of National AmeriCorps Week which recognizes the commitment of AmeriCorps Members and Alumni by highlighting the extraordinary impact they make across our country every day.

Did you know:
AmeriCorps engages more than 80,000 men and women in intensive national service each year through more than 15,000 organizations across the country?

Last year, Boomers Leading Change in Health (BLCiH) received a grant of nearly $250,000 to recruit, train, and place 23 full- and part-time AmeriCorps Members age 55+ at nine Host Sites across Metro Denver, including Jewish Family Service of Colorado. Our Members are helping to build the capacity of these Host Site Organizations in a variety of ways.

Here are a few Fast Facts about our AmeriCorps Members:
Average Age = 61.5
92% have a college degree
54% have a graduate degree
21% have worked in healthcare

Since they began their service last October, BLCiH AmeriCorps Members have logged more than 10,000 hours serving our community and helping our nine Host Sites better meet the needs of their constituents.

For more information about AmeriCorps--including how to become a Member--please click here.

-Submitted by Boomers Leading Change in Health

This week, we received some beautiful baskets of food and toiletries from the sixth grade religious school class at Congregation Beth Evergreen. Nineteen students bagged rice and held a food drive for items needed in the Weinberg Food Pantry. In honor of Purim this week, they made cards and put the items into colorful baskets.

Thank you to Gareth Heyman, a longtime supporter of JFS and member of Beth Evergreen, for connecting their religious school with our volunteer department for this project!

If your family or group is looking for some fun, easy ways to help JFS, check out the Family and Group volunteer page on our website and contact Nancy Benyamin, director of volunteer services, at 720.248.4642 before starting your project.

-Alaina Green and Kari Alpen, JFS Marketing Department

Last month, Greeley’s El Teatro (a multilingual theater company) performed "OUR STORIES," a multilingual play written and performed by Greeley refugee and immigrant high school students, at JFS. The theater group was touring Denver and as part of our International KidSuccess program, we invited educators and supporters of refugee services to this performance. 

Jewish Family Service is a part of the Refugee School Impact Grant program, which supports impacted school districts in Colorado with services that target school-age refugees between the ages of five and eighteen and within the first three years after arrival in the United States. The other service providers under the grant are Colorado African Organization and Lutheran Family Services.



El Teatro focuses on cultural pride, the benefits of knowing more than one language, and the idea that people are more alike than they are different. The script is based on true experiences of the El Teatro members, their families and friends. All of the students who performed also contributed to the writing of the script.

A couple of the attendees had this to say about the moving show:

"The play was very powerful and the personal experiences refugee and immigrant students shared with us were thought provoking and very inspiring. Thank you so much for organizing this amazing event!"

"I too was very moved and awe struck by the performers. Their stories certainly gave me pause to reflect on what’s important and all that I have to be grateful for."

To learn more about El Teatro and get a taste of their performance, view this brief segment that was on 9News recently:

-Alaina Green and Kari Alpen, JFS Marketing Department