JFS Perspectives

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

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

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

 

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