JFS Perspectives

Here are some exciting things that have happened around JFS so far this month:

On May 6, Sara Leeper from SHALOM Denver, and Inna Oganesyan from the JFS New Americans department, attended a Rose Youth Foundation celebration for grantees. JFS received $10,000 for its citizenship program and SHALOM Denver received $6,000 to increase community employment opportunities for people with developmental disabilities.


Sara Leeper, Sara Goldstein from Rose Youth Foundation, and Inna Oganesyan.

On May 8, the JFS Executive Luncheon raised a record $468,000—$156,000 more than last year— to support all programs of JFS, including mental health counseling, senior and adult in-home care, disability and employment services, and family safety net services. Read the full story and view event photos!

On Friday, May 11, Denver Jewish Day School seventh graders volunteered in the pantry as part of their study on homelessness. They arrived at the pantry and gave the regular volunteers a break while they performed all their duties, including unloading the truck from the morning’s pickups at grocery stores, stocking the shelves, and organizing the pantry.

On May 12, Temple Sinai eighth graders held a fundraiser for the Weinberg Food Pantry and Lone Soldier called “Food Fight 4 A-WEAR-NESS.” The event included the world-famous rapper Kosha Dllz, DJs and breakdancers, a fashion show, a professional Flatland BMX demo, an on-site photo booth, educational presentations, food, refreshments, dessert, and more! In total, they donated 374 pounds of food and bagged 120 pounds of rice for the food pantry. In addition, they gave us 100 Fazzoli’s meal coupons to hand out to clients.

Here’s to a successful rest of the month!

-Alaina Green and Kari Alpen, JFS Marketing Department

SHALOM Denver staffers Meeka Houston, Employment Services Manager; Sara Leeper, Coordinator of Client Services; Susan Simons, CBT Developer/Site Supervisor; and Arnie Kover, Director of Disability and Employment Services at Houston Hobby Airport, ready to get back home from the joint IAJVS/AJFCA conference in Houston Texas.

Several members of the SHALOM Denver staff, along with JFS President and CEO Yana Vishnitsky, Director of Marketing & Communications John Kayser, and JFS Board Chair Alan Mayer, attended the joint annual conference of the International Association of Jewish Vocational Services (IAJVS) and the Association of Jewish Family & Children's Agencies (AJFCA) in Houston, Texas, April 21 to 24.

They all enjoyed the conference and learned a lot from colleagues from around the world at the three-day gathering, hosted by the Houston JFS. The conference was filled with informative sessions, networking with colleagues, and a fun Sunday night "hoe down," complete with kosher BBQ, line dancing and the "Cotton-Eyed Joe."

SHALOM Denver staff, Meeka Houston and Arnie Kover, were honored to deliver presentations about the innovative employment services provided through SHALOM Denver for Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) recipients and people with developmental disabilities.


Arnie Kover with IAJVS colleagues. Left to right: Leah Rosenbaum, from Detroit, Jerry Rubin, Boston and Peter Bloch, Cincinnati.

-Alaina Green and Kari Alpen, JFS Marketing Department

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

One of JFS's good friends, Laurie Greene, turned 66 on November 2nd! He was one of the first residents of the JFS Group Home and still lives there 28 years later. Laurie also works at SHALOM Denver and volunteers at JFS every Friday. He is truly a valued member of our family and we can't thank him enough for everything he does for our organization!

In honor of his birthday, we want to share some old photos that we recently found of Laurie and his family from 1982 when the Group Home first opened. Enjoy!

LAURIE THEN...






Laurie with his mom, Helen


Laurie with his parents, Monty and Helen in front of the Group Home

LAURIE NOW...


Laurie enjoying a Bronco game


Laurie with Arnie Kover, JFS director of disability and employment services


Getting ready for a helicopter ride!

Happy Birthday, Laurie from your friends at Jewish Family Service!

-Alaina Green and Kari Alpen, JFS Marketing Department

SHALOM’s Director Arnie Kover checks in and receives his 9/11 remembrance
ribbon with SHALOM clients Tricia Streets, Juanita Proctor, and Andrea Woolfolk. 

In remembrance of 9/11, SHALOM Denver, a division of Jewish Family Service, hosted a “Celebration of Diversity” event for its TANF (Temporary Aid for Needy Families) clients at Mile High United Way on Tuesday, September 20th.

SHALOM clients “Pin their Kin” to represent their diverse ancestry.

The first half of the day featured a diversity panel with inspirational speeches from eight successful community members who have overcome prejudice and other barriers to become leaders in their fields and servants to their communities. This was followed by a question and answer session and an incredible lunch featuring more than 30 multicultural dishes from Ethiopian Doro Wot to Peruvian Arroz con Pollo Verde. Everyone tried at least one new dish and learned about the eating habits and foods of other cultures.

Guest Speaker and Master of Ceremonies Mike Thompson introduces
the first panel member to speak, Jason Wilson.

After lunch, Mike Thompson, the owner of The Father’s Show, an education and empowerment program for single fathers, taught the participants that no challenge is too great and no barrier too large to become a successful, conscientious citizen.

SHALOM’s 56 TANF clients in attendance truly appreciated the opportunity to celebrate their differences and enjoy a special day of remembrance. This event will foster SHALOM’s goal of promoting inclusivity, acceptance, and perseverance toward self-sufficiency.

-Danielle Cummings, TANF CBT Case Manager

Sometimes things don’t work out the way we plan. Even at a human service agency, where we try to make people’s lives easier, we have to acknowledge that sometimes our idea of what will make their life better doesn’t jive with our clients’ immediate needs. I learned that lesson watching Meeka Houston, a case manager for the TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families) clients at SHALOM Denver, a division of JFS. Meeka runs an empowerment group for the TANF clients, who are working their way off welfare. They come to SHALOM Denver to work and learn how to get back on their feet.


Meeka Houston

Meeka’s job is to work with the clients to give them skills so that one day they will find full time employment. Her day is filled with “hiccups” and parents who are learning what it takes to be a parent and to be a meaningful part of the community. Meeka says the hiccups make her more resolved to keep on going.

A few weeks ago, one of Meeka’s clients needed a furnished apartment in order to get her children out of foster care. Meeka rallied everyone she could think of, and within two days she had furniture and a readied apartment. As it turned out, the judge did not think the family was ready for the children and they were told to come back for the next court date in late April.

Watching this was very frustrating for me. I want people to be ready when I am ready. I wanted this mother to have her children back that day. Meeka worked very hard to ready this mother and furnish this apartment. It was very frustrating to watch her hard work unravel.

Meeka helped me understand the importance of patience with the analogy of what flight attendants tell us on a plane. In the case of an emergency, you put your own mask on and then assist the child. If you are not safe and strong, you can’t assist your children. It is hard to remember that people are not always ready when we want them to be ready. We can rally together and furnish a home, but we can’t control what goes on in that home. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t rally together or go out of our way to help, it just means we have to remember that it doesn’t always happen the way we picture it in our mind. One day, hopefully in April, this mother will have her three little children back from foster care. Maybe for Meeka this is a blessing. She now has an extra three months to ready this mother to be a mother. Patience is a hard lesson. Thank you, Meeka for teaching these parents this skill—and for teaching it to me.

-Lindsey Gutterman, JFS Director of Marketing and Communications

This month, some of our clients with disabilities attended special sporting events through the generosity of some of our donors and volunteers! Below are some highlights from a trip to Bandimere Speedway and a Broncos game.



On August 11th, SHALOM Denver director, Arnie Kover and delivery driver, Anthony Montoya, took several clients with disabilities, who are “real car guys” to the drag races at Bandimere. Thanks to the generosity of Paul Lombardi, food and beverage manager at Bandimere raceway, they were able to have a “guys night at the races."  Admission, hot dogs and burgers were provided by Paul and the guys got souvenier T-shirts to take home. In addition, Tim Hall, former Laradon Hall Director, turned race car driver let the guys sit in a real Corvette race car. Thanks to Paul and Tim for a great night!



On August 21st, Duke Kaminsky, a long-time donor, gave the JFS Group Home four tickets to a Broncos exhibition game. Laurie and Lee were the lucky residents who got to go to the game. Denise, a member of the Group Home staff, and Phil Rose, a volunteer, were the chaperones for the evening.

Phil has been volunteering at the Group Home for a couple of months, hanging out with the guys and watching sports at the house. He had expressed an interest in taking them on an outing and when this opportunity arose, he jumped on it! Everyone had a great time and upon Laurie's insistence, stayed until the end of the game.

Phil says of the experience, "The fact that it was a preseason game did not dim Lee and Laurie's enthusiasm. I have a new appreciation for how these two gentlemen coped with the challenge of getting to the seats from the parking lot. They were both so happy to see the live action and all the visual stimuli surrounding an NFL football game. They had gratitude for everyone who helped."

Thanks to everyone who made these fun events happen for all the guys!

-Alaina Green and Kari Alpen, JFS Marketing Department