Sharing Gratitude
It’s heartwarming when a client reaches out to JFS to thank us for the services and help they’ve received. In turn, we’re grateful for our supporters who help make this a reality. We are able to help our neighbors in need because of your dedication.
JFS Becomes a Permanent Reception & Placement Agency
JFS is pleased to announce they are returning to their roots and have become a permanent Reception & Placement (R&P) agency as a HIAS affiliate, making them the fourth resettlement agency in Colorado. HIAS is a nonprofit that provides vital services to refugees and asylum seekers while advocating for their fundamental rights so they can rebuild their lives.
Red Cross Awards Grant to JFS for Mental Health Services
JFS Boulder has received a $250,000 recovery grant from the Red Cross to expand access to longer-term mental health services for those impacted by the Marshall Fire and Straight-Line Wind Event, as well as individuals who have secondary trauma attributed to their roles as first responders, teachers, and disaster recovery staff.
Planned giving and how it can benefit you and JFS
Planned gifts can be funded through cash, equity, or property, and they allow you to give what is typically the most significant gift you’ll be able to make to an organization. Some planned gifts enable you to receive life-long income, while others use estate and tax planning avenues to provide for nonprofits in ways that minimize the taxes on your estate.
Alzheimer’s awareness series
JFS Boulder, the Alzheimer’s Association, and the Boulder JCC are offering classes around the critical topic of Alzheimer’s disease. Join us and find the knowledge and support you need to navigate Alzheimer’s during our free, in-person or virtual Alzheimer’s Association Education Series.
Friendly Visitor program: neighbors helping neighbors
The JFS Friendly Visitor program promotes connection, engagement, and fun between older adults and volunteers. Volunteers are individually matched with an older adult to provide an hour or so of companionship each week. Our volunteers find that they establish a rich connection with the individuals they meet. We ask our volunteers for a minimum commitment of six months, which gives them time to develop a relationship and form a bond.
Volunteering through generations
At JFS, we couldn’t help our neighbors thrive without the help of our volunteers—both within the agency and throughout the community. It’s exciting to see how we’re experiencing different generations of volunteers working together, making a difference just like their families have done throughout the organization and beyond. Recently, JFS clients were the beneficiaries of Carter, Wyatt, and Brody’s mitzvah projects as part of their bar mitzvah preparations.
Jewish Disabilities Advocates promotes inclusion
JFS’s Jewish Disabilities Advocates began when Jewish parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities joined together to advocate for inclusion and connection. Over the years, the program has grown throughout the community.
Becoming the best version of yourself
Neither Chelsea nor her wife came from healthy family environments. They weren’t surrounded by the type of support systems that help shape strong life skills and promote emotional well-being, and they were stuck in a vicious cycle of generational poverty. When the couple came to JFS, their lives changed in the most wonderful of ways.
The Raphael Levy Memorial Foundation Endowment for Refugees and Mental Health Services
Jewish Family Service (JFS) is pleased to announce a generous endowment gift totaling $500,000 from the Raphael Levy Memorial Foundation (RLMF) in honor of our 150th anniversary. The endowment will support refugee clients resettling in Colorado and provide mental health services to meet the immediate and long-term needs of the mental health crisis.
Success works here: JFS Employment Services
Ann signed up for JFS’s Career Launchpad Nail Your Next Interview workshop, which focuses on the interview process to showcase job candidate’s communication skills and match their strengths to the hiring manager’s needs. During Workforce Development Month, we’re sharing Ann’s story and how JFS’s Job Readiness Instructor was able to strengthen Ann’s interview skills and help her find a job she’s excited to begin.
Providing comfort when it’s needed most
In times of need, JFS’s Rabbi Rick Brody provides comfort, counseling, and spiritual care to unaffiliated Jews. For one family, his outreach during two difficult times meant the world to them, and they reached out to share their gratitude.
Jewish Family Service Receives $1 Million Endowment for Youth Mental Health
Jewish Family Service of Colorado (JFS) is the beneficiary of the Metzler Family Childhood Learning Endowment for its KidSuccess school-based mental health program. All funds will be used to meet the immediate and long-term needs of the youth mental health crisis.
JFS Boulder Ambassadors enrich community living
Evie Verderber and Mary Ann Wilner, long-term volunteers at JFS Boulder, launched an exciting new program this spring at the Golden West community in Boulder. As part of the program, two volunteers are assigned as Ambassadors to a specific senior living residence and will plan monthly Jewish cultural programs together with the residents.
Get to know our JFS Boulder team
Our dedicated team provides programs and services to help people feel supported, connected, and engaged, and the community is a better place thanks to their commitment.
JFS Hosting Annual Boulder Fundraising Event Experience JFS Boulder
JFS is hosting its annual fundraiser, Experience JFS Boulder, Sunday, September 11 at 5:30 p.m. at the Boulder JCC. This unique culinary and cultural event will feature local chefs from Boulder while supporting the important work of JFS
Make a difference every month
People donate to JFS for all sorts of reasons—perhaps it’s to honor a person who made a difference in their life, or they want to be a part of something meaningful. Whatever the motivation, our donors are part of a community that shapes JFS’s future and helps meet the challenges facing 21st century Coloradans.
Five tips for sending kids back to school
While the start of the school year ushers in new beginnings that can be exciting, it can also be overwhelming. JFS KidSuccess Program Manager Lisa Ricon offers tips on preparing for the academic year, easing into a new routine, and (hopefully) making days less stressful.
Backpack Bonanza lets kids know we’ve got their backs
As the cost-of-living increases and caregivers struggle to afford all the essentials for kids’ first day of school, including a backpack, 15-year-old Hannah Kutnick has worked to erase the need at-risk children face starting the school year without backpacks and school supplies with her Backpack Bonanza Drive. Over the years, Hannah’s compassion has helped fill 2,430 backpacks.
Rapid re-housing creates stability
The JFS Rapid Re-housing program reduces homelessness in the Denver metro area by quickly moving individuals and families into permanent housing by providing housing identification, financial and supportive service, and ongoing personal support and success planning. Our housing navigators work with clients to help them choose homes to meet their lifestyle and ensure that they don’t become homeless again—clients like Juan.