Spring Has Sprung at the JFS Group Home!

This spring, the JFS Group Home had several visits from elementary student groups. In April, Risa Aqua brought kids from her 6th grade religious school class at B'nai Havurah to hang out with the residents. They brought snacks, played Bingo, and chatted with the residents. "I enjoyed the field trip!" says Risa. "It was my first time to the Group Home. It was a delightful experience and I would take other classes back in a heartbeat."

Later that month, Samantha Baumgarten brought her 5th grade religous school class (also from B'nai Havurah) to do yard and patio clean-up and get the flower beds ready for planting. Herzl 4th graders took over where they left off by going to the Group Home to plant flowers in early May.

You may remember our blog post in April about Herzl 4th graders choosing JFS as their mitzvah project for the year. Planting flowers at the Group Home was the culmination of this year-long project. Rayna Halzel, a parent who went on the field trip, says, "I found this to be one of the more useful and meaningful field trips to date. It was informative for both students and parents and the kids enjoyed planting the flowers to make the yard look pretty."

Last Friday, Dawn Richard, JFS development director, attended a Kabbalat Shabbat service where all the Herzl classes presented checks to the organizations for whom they raised money during the school year. The 4th graders gave Jewish Family Service a beautiful poster (shown below) and a check for $113, which was the remaining money after they bought the rice they bagged for the Weinberg Food Pantry.

As a way to thank and recognize the Herzl 4th graders, we invited them to come to our Annual Meeting on June 28th to share their experiences with our supporters. If you haven't already RSVP'd for this event, please do so now so you don't miss out!