During the upcoming Passover Seders, many of us will open up our doors, symbolically inviting in all those who are hungry. Passover is our Holiday that reminds us that we were all once hungry, we were all once strangers in a strange land. Our Torah tells us we have a responsibility to care for the strangers, orphans and widows among us. Today, we can add the homeless, the chronically mentally ill and the unemployed among us as well.

There is an organization in our community that epitomizes these Jewish ideals of providing care for the most vulnerable in our midst. An organization that opens its doors every day, not just one day a year. It is our very own Jewish Family Service. For almost 90 years they have been “opening their doors” for those most vulnerable among us. Unfortunately, the current economic climate now places them in need of our assistance. The “for sale sign” in front of the JFS doors is a stark reminder that we as a community can no longer take their services for granted.

The Rabbis of Greater Bridgeport are sponsoring a community wide Passover Appeal specifically to benefit Jewish Family Service. Passover has always been a time when our community generously gives charity. By supporting JFS, we are continuing this long tradition of helping others. Even as you are reading this letter, Jewish Family Service is organizing the local distribution of 150 Passover Food Baskets (generously provided by B’nai Brith).

Enclosed is a Dayanu insert about the many services that you might not even be aware that Jewish Family Service provides in our community. Please share this information with friends and relatives as you celebrate the holiday this year. We hope that everyone who needs these services will become be aware of their availability and that Jewish Family Service will receive the community support it needs to remain a vital part of our community.

The best to all of you for a happy, healthy and kosher Passover!

P.S. Please be generous with your contribution to JFS. You can give it to your rabbi, you can give it to your synagogue office, you can mail it to JFS or go to the JFS website at www.jfsct.org and go to the Passover Appeal section. Thank you.

Make a Donation to Jewish Family Service

For further information please contact Harvey Paris at www.jfsct.org or at
203-366-5438.

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Dayaynu

It would have been enough… if when a Jewish senior who recently moved to our community, alone, without friends or transportation, was seen by a JFS social worker in her own home…but JFS also provided volunteers to visit with her and drive her to her doctor’s appointments.

It would have been enough…if when an unemployed adult was provided with individual counseling and needed medications to deal with his depression, but JFS also started a networking group to help him secure new employment and paid for his utility bill.
It would have been enough… if when a single mother called about her “acting out son”, JFS provided affordable counseling… but JFS also provided a volunteer “male role model” through their volunteer Big Buddy program as well.

It would have been enough…if when JFS found out about a Jewish woman living in her car they arranged more secure housing for her…but even when she was evicted over and over again, JFS continued to assist her and to treat her with dignity.

It would have been enough…if when an adult daughter overwhelmed by caring for her elderly parent was told about available community resources that helped her parent… but JFS also provided an on-going support group that helped the adult daughter as well.
It would have been enough that when a refugee needed a community to sponsor them in America… JFS had only accepted them; organized hundreds of volunteers to assist with housing, language skills, employment and Jewish identity…but 20 years later, JFS is still there assisting the now senior through the difficulties of aging in a foreign country.

It would have been enough…if when a family yearning to adopt a child was helped every step of the way by JFS…but when the family was turned down due to a pre-existing medical condition, JFS did not give up on them until they were finally able to adopt the child of their dreams.

It would have been enough…if when a grieving adult, mourning the loss of his beloved spouse for over 50 years was finally given permission by the JFS social worker to cry… but the JFS worker also arranged for the widower to get transportation to the hot kosher meals program and found a volunteer to visit him in his home as well.

It would have been enough…if when a poor Holocaust survivor contacted JFS complaining about a leaking roof, JFS had it fixed…but when it became clear that medical and legal assistance was also needed, JFS secured that as well.

It would have been enough… if when a mother called complaining that her daughter with special needs had no friends…the child was seen by the JFS child psychologist… but JFS also recruited Jewish teens to befriend her through their Friend to Friend Teen Volunteer program.

It would have been enough… if when the Bridgeport jail called about a Jewish prisoner, JFS had visited with him and provided him with consolation…but JFS also provided clothing, housing and counseling upon discharge as well.