JFS Perspectives

This month, many generous individuals, organizations, and corporations collected holiday gifts for JFS clients. Through our Bright Holidays program, 533 individuals received hand-picked gifts such as clothing, toys, electronics, sports equipment, and other items on their wish lists.


Walgreens staff: First row, L to R: Clete Morton and Amber Hodges
Standing: Ken Wood, Peter Stur, and Jed Andrews

In addition, we had help from a new partner this year; five area Walgreens stores collected toys for the program. The Walgreens team delivered 12 large boxes of brand new toys that were donated by Walgreens employees and customers.

The gifts came from various individuals, groups, and businesses or organizations. Check out the stats below!

533 individuals received gifts:

• 263 individuals were adopted at our office
• Lockheed Martin’s Operation Santa Claus gave food and toys to 77 of our clients
• The SHALOM Denver TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families) program received toys for 93 children
• Nearly 100 people received toys when visiting the Weinberg Food Pantry

A boy in the food pantry showing off the gift he chose


Another boy in the food pantry choosing gifts for himself and siblings

7 large businesses adopted families:

• Allied Jewish Federation
• Holland & Hart
• Lockheed Martin
• The Westin Downtown
• Walgreens
• Pioneer Natural Resources USA
• Wealth Concepts

Representatives from Holland & Hart bring their gifts to our truck


Representatives from Holland & Hart pose with JFS staffer
Chad Livermore (2nd from left) after loading gifts into the truck

7 groups and synagogue groups adopted families:

• The Sisterhood at Congregation Emanuel
• Beth Evergreen
• B’nai Havurah
• Several book clubs and office friends

45 other individuals and family groups adopted families


Shelly Hines, Family Safety Net director, poses with gifts for SHALOM Denver

A big thank you to Shelley Kolman (pictured above), Family Safety Net administrative assistant, for all her hard work organizing the collection and distribution of the gifts!

Thank you to everyone who adopted a family and helped make their holidays brighter! Happy Holidays and New Year from all of us at JFS.

-Alaina Green and Kari Alpen, JFS Marketing Department

Thanks to our local Walgreens on Hampden Avenue, 30 less people in Denver will be getting the flu this season!

On Wednesday, Walgreens provided complimentary flu vaccine shots to our clients and staff as a community service. Some of our clients had never received a flu shot before and were very grateful for this opportunity.

This is part of a great new partnership with Walgreens, who is also collecting toys for our Bright Holidays gift program at five of its Denver metro locations.

Thank you to Ken Wood, Walgreens manager, and his team for doing so much for our community!

-Alaina Green and Kari Alpen, JFS Marketing Department

Last month, many generous individuals, organizations, and corporations collected holiday gifts for JFS clients. Through our Bright Holidays program, 432 individuals received hand-picked gifts such as clothing, toys, electronics, sports equipment, and other items on their wish lists. This is a significant increase from last year’s total of 308!

The gifts came from 65 individuals, groups, and businesses or organizations, which was also a large increase from 37 last year. Thank you to all the individuals and the following organizations for their generosity: Graland Country Day School, Cherry Creek High School, El Jebel Shrine, Greenwood Elementary School Book Club, Havurah Mosaic, Meritage Energy Company, Holland and Hart, Allied Jewish Federation, Denver Westin, and the Operation Santa Claus program at Lockheed Martin.

In addition, the Sisterhood of Temple Emanuel collected toys and gift cards from the Sunday school students that we distributed to 132 of SHALOM Denver's TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families) clients at a holiday party. UMB Bank also provided 50 $10 gift cards to Target and King Soopers for these families to buy additional gifts.

Many JFS staff members also contributed gifts for this party and adopted families for Bright Holidays. "It always amazes me that our staff members are the first to contribute gifts for this program!" says Yana Vishnitsky, JFS president and CEO. "Even though nonprofit employees are not known for making a lot of money, they continue to exceed my expectations with their generosity!"

We appreciate everyone's compassion to make the holidays brighter for those in need! Ralitsa Ranova, JFS International KidSuccess school-based therapist, said, "I had the chance to see great joy in the eyes of my clients when they got their gifts." There are countless stories we wish we could share about how thankful all the families were for the outpouring of support from so many in the community.

Shelley Kolman, JFS Family Safety Net administrative assistant who helped with the Bright Holidays program, said, "Many people referred other family members and friends to adopt. We had one individual recruit five families to adopt people for the program, who then each adopted several families of all sizes including one family of 12. I was blown away by all the new donors that came forward this year!"

And last, but not least, thank you to Westword for donating 554 pounds of food and $250 in gift cards for clients of the Weinberg Food Pantry through their annual holiday drive!

 

Thank you to Andrea Stillman (pictured above) and all our volunteers who helped organize all the gifts!

-Alaina Green and Kari Alpen, JFS Marketing Department