Have You Got Your Tickets Yet?

On Tuesday, May 11, 2010, Jewish Family Service will be hosting the the sixth annual JFS Executive Luncheon featuring guest speaker Christopher Buckley.

Who is Christopher Buckley?
Hailed as “the quintessential political novelist of his time” by Fortune Magazine, Christopher Buckley is the winner of the distinguished ninth annual Thurber Prize for American Humor. His latest book, Losing Mum and Pup: A Memoir, documents the eleven months between 2007 and 2008 that he coped with the passing of his father, William F. Buckley, the father of the modern conservative movement, and his mother, Patricia Taylor Buckley, one of New York’s most glamorous and colorful socialites. In the book, he offers consolation, wit, and warmth to those coping with the death of a parent, while telling a unique personal story of life with legends.

As with his writing, Buckley’s talks and lectures provide a uniquely humorous perspective on current events and culture that will amuse, enlighten, and stimulate every audience. Marked by a savvy understanding of the truth behind the headlines and a perceptive wit that holds no target sacred, Buckley delivers a comedic look at national politics and world affairs.

Buckley was born in New York in 1952. He graduated with honors from Yale University, shipped out with the Merchant Marine and was managing editor of Esquire Magazine at the age of 24. At age 29, he became chief speechwriter to the Vice President of the United States, George H.W. Bush. His experiences during his two years at the White House make up part of his hilarious commentary.

Buckley was editor in chief of Forbes FYI and has written for most national newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, TIME, The Atlantic Monthly, Smithsonian, US News and World Report, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and Condé Nast Traveler. In addition, he has published over 50 comic essays in The New Yorker and received the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence in 2002.

The Details
CBS4 News Anchor Jim Benemann will serve as the emcee for the luncheon, which will be held at the Donald R. Seawell Grand Ballroom, 1101 13th Street, Denver, CO 80204. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. and the program begins at noon. All proceeds from the JFS Executive Luncheon support the programs and services of Jewish Family Service.

Tickets are still available! Contact Lynn Cooper at (303) 597.5000 x365.

Composition of Color: Abstracts by Zachary Inkeles

Recently, Zachary Inkeles, one of the Jewish Disabilities Network's clients, had an art show at Koelbel Library in Centennial. About 60 people, including Zach’s friends, professionals, and autism awareness supporters, attended the event. We would like to share his story and more about the art show, "Composition of Color" with you.

Composition of Color
Although Zachary Inkeles has been creating art since childhood, he has only recently begun to explore abstract expression. His paintings are created with acrylic, acrylic mediums, premium latex paint, and hand-cut collage on hardboard or canvas. He applies these mediums via paintbrush, rags, and palette knife, and uses a complex glaze technique with some sanding between layers.

Zachary has Asperger Sydrome, a form of autism, which makes working with abstract ideas a real challenge. This is because he tends to think and process in very concrete and literal ways.

Using music as inspiration, shapes and colors mingle with each other to create highly personal interpretations of sound and rhythm. His hope is that the colors and movements enable viewers to hear music, yet the music will not be the same for everyone.

If you would like more information about Zachary Inkeles and his artwork, contact him at Studio Zink, (303) 916.7415.

Out of the Mouths of Babes!

At Herzl, a local Jewish Day School, each grade chooses a mitzvah (good deed) project for the duration of the school year. The 4th grade students and teachers chose JFS this year. Tracey Douglas, one of the parents, says, "The kids collect weekly tzedakah (charity) money, and we are also trying to include other ways of giving/becoming involved and hope that the team will gain an understanding of your wonderful organization. We had a Thanksgiving drive for the Food Pantry in November (the students had visited the Panty in kindergarten), we bagged rice in April, and we are going to plant flowers at the JFS Group Home in May."

Below are a few of the letters we received from the 4th grade students:

"It felt wonderful to help somebody, especially someone who truly needed it. Cause when you're in need for food, health, shelter, and a loving group of friends and family, it really warms not only one heart, but two special, happy hearts and I'm happy to be one of them." - Alice

"Dear JFS, When I bagged the rice, I imagined that I was the family that received the bag. I felt the family's joy to have dinner that night and I felt proud to bag the rice." - Alison

"I think Jewish Family Services is a great charity to donate to. Because for this charity it doesn't take anything fancy shmancy to put a smile on a family's face, and when you know you made someone happy, that happiness spreads to you. When I was packaging the bags of rice to donate to families, I thought to myself, 'Wow, I accomplished something. I put a smile on someone's face,' and that felt amazing to me." - Arielle

"I think that JFS is a cool service. They help people have a life. When I was helping packaging the rice, each grain meant I was helping a family in the JFS and the world, so when I did that it felt very good to my heart. If everybody did it, the world would be perfect!" - Zev

If you would like to bag rice for the Weinberg Food Pantry or are interested in another group project, please contact Nancy Benyamin at (303) 597.5000 x369.

Job Search Program at JFS Shows Positive Results

While the Colorado unemployment rate is still at 7.7% (as of February), we at JFS are doing our part to lower that number! The Employment Resource Alliance (ERA) is a job search and counseling program of JFS that started last September. The ERA conducts one-on-one training to individuals in the areas of goal setting, developing leads, interviewing, writing resumes, networking, and accessing community employment resources.

The ERA is available for Denver residents only and whose household income is not more than 200% of poverty level. This amount varies, depending on the number of family members. The program is made possible through a Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The project is in partnership with Colorado Women’s Employment and Education (CWEE) and Mi Casa in Denver.

Below is a letter from a woman who recently used the ERA to find a job:

Julie and Eileen,

After I received help from JFS in creating my resume I headed to the Adams County Workforce to use their computers, faxes and resources along with the resources obtained at JFS. Every day I would spend hours researching many job sites, faxing and emailing countless resumes with no results.

After two weeks of sending out resumes it was like God answering all my prayers. I had more emails and phone calls for interviews than I ever imagined. Pardon the pun, for the first time in a lone time I was in the driver’s seat able to pick which lane I wanted. Along with a little positive thinking allowed only because of JFS's financial assistance which eased my stress and allowed me to concentrate on the job search was the accomplished.

I have found a job at Excel Driver Services as an instructor and I love it! The people are great and the students are very motivated to learn. I cannot thank you and Jewish Family Service for all you have done. I could not have made it through this tough time of need without you. I shall not forget this! The person responsible for sending me to JFS is Sara Leeper. She and I attend the same church, however I think she also works for JFS in some form or another.

With much gratitude,

Diana

To date, the ERA has placed 38 people in various jobs around the metro area. If you would like more information about this program, please contact Julie Rubsam at (303) 597.5000 x385.

Celebrating People in Action for National Volunteer Week!

National Volunteer Week begins this Sunday, April 18th and runs through April 24th. As Metro Volunteers stated, "This national celebration is about inspiring, recognizing, and encouraging people to seek out imaginative ways to engage in their communities. It's about demonstrating to the nation that by working together, we have the fortitude to meet our challenges and accomplish our goals. National Volunteer Week is about taking action and enouraging individuals and their respective communities to be at the center of social change - discovering and actively demonstrating their collective power to foster positive transformation."

Volunteers are the backbone of JFS and we could not provide services to more than 22,000 people each year without their invaluable support. Thank you to our hundreds of volunteers who give selflessly to our agency! Nancy Benyamin, director of volunteer services says, "I'm inspired every day by what the volunteers do and how they truly give from their hearts!"

We encourage you to get invovled and find a volunteer opportunity that fits your interests and schedule! For more information about volunteer opportunities, please contact Nancy Benyamin, director of volunteer services, at (303) 597.5000 x369.

Don't Miss Out on Your Chance to See Christopher Buckley, Winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor, Live in Denver!

You don't want to miss this exciting event. Get your tickets today!

Learn more about the featured speaker, Christopher Buckley, through this video.

Our 100th Post: A Retrospective

Since it’s our 100th post, we thought we would recap some of our favorite posts since we started the blog in September 2008. We hope you enjoy (and indulge us in) this walk down memory lane! Please help us celebrate this milestone by leaving comments about your favorite post(s)!

2008

September: We wrote our first post to introduce the new Web site, blog, and agency branding. The new look of JFS features a brand new logo, and a more modern appeal that we hope will energize our staff, volunteers and supporters.

October: We attended the Colorado Nonprofit Assocation Fall Conference and started creating content and personality for the blog.

November: Denver Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce named JFS the Nonprofit of the Year at the 12th Annual Gay and Lesbian Business Awards Dinner. This annual event honors Colorado individuals and organizations that promote gay-friendly values in the business community.

December: JFS in the News! We were spotlighted in several news stories that month, including feature stories on 7News and 9News and articles in the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News.

2009

January: Celebrate Life! Colorado Senior Connections (CSC) hosted a party honoring 13 Berkshires at Lowry residents who were 90 years old and older.

February: Arnie Kover reflected on his 30th anniversary with Jewish Family Service and SHALOM Denver. The same month, Jewish Disabilities Network hosted the first annual Jewish Disabilities Awareness Day.

March: Marilyn Lande, a great friend, volunteer, and supporter of JFS was a 2009 Jewish Women in the Arts honoree and had an art exhibit at the Rafael Spiritual Healing Center at JFS. Also this month, the JFS Group Home residents attended a private magic show by famed magician, Brad Montgomery.

April: Mark Krivel, a dedicated JFS volunteer, received the CWEE (Center for Work Education and Employment) Volunteer of the Year Award and we celebrated National Volunteer Week - honoring the individuals who dedicate themselves to taking action and solving problems in their communities.

May: We wrote several blog posts this month about various mental health topics to commemorate Mental Health Awareness Month. Guest blogger Evan Silverman wrote one of our most popular posts to date about living with a mental illness. Also, despite the economic downturn of 2009, we raised $153,000 at the JFS Executive Luncheon featuring Frank Abagnale.

June: Alysa Stanton became the world's first African-American female rabbi. Alysa was trained as a JFS para-chaplain by Donna Lutz, Nursing Home Outreach coordinator, and Rabbi Eliot Baskin, JFS community chaplain. We also had our Annual Meeting where we presented the Max Frankel Volunteer of the Year Award and welcomed our new board members.

July: The JFS Group Home crowned a new champion at its annual croquet tournament and we learned that volunteering can be a family affair as one family shares their years of experience volunteering at the Weinberg Food Pantry.

August: We heard stories from people who used our services and liked them: Sue Silverman worked through the grief of losing her daughter 10 years ago by participating in an eight-week bereavement support group through JFS’s Rafael Spiritual Healing Center and the Hübler family shared their experience making their own centerpieces and donating the items to the Weinberg Food Pantry.

September: During Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Jewish New Year and High Holy Days, we reached out to isolated Jewish seniors in a variety of ways to ensure that they have a meaningful holiday season. Two of our staff members also shared some personal thoughts on how their work experiences relate to the High Holy Days.

October: Our hard work on the new Web site was formally recognized by the Colorado Healthcare Communicators with a Bronze Leaf Award and three of the projects through Temple Emanuel’s Mitzvah Day, the congregation's annual social action event, benefited JFS clients.

November: Brad Nieder, the Healthy Humorist, entertained senior residents and their families at Berkshires at Lowry during a Colorado Senior Connections event. Our supporters came forth with great generosity at Thanksgiving to help us provide holiday meals to hundreds in need and we announced our Reel Hope movie. JFS at Home was also a sponsor of the Young@Heart Chorus’s “Alive and Well” performance.

December: Westword held a holiday food, toiletries, and winter clothing drive for Family Safety Net clients and we recapped Reel Hope-Take 14, our annual movie fundraiser.

2010

January: We debuted “A Day in the Life of JFS” - our 2009 annual report. Gretchen Koplin of Allied Jewish Federation also shared her touching, personal account of how Rabbi Baskin, the JFS community chaplain, supported her during her difficult battle with cancer.

February: We wrote several posts about various disabilities topics for Jewish Disabilities Awareness Month. We also mourned the passing of Audrey Reich, a JFS Group Home resident, and announced the transformation of the Weinberg Food Pantry into a client choice system.

March: We announced our needs of food, time, and money to help provide hundreds of Passover meals for our clients, celebrated a client’s 89th birthday, and showed you some new, simple ways to support JFS by shopping. Then we ended the month by sharing some Passover successes and recipes.

Thank you to all our loyal readers for your continued support! Please subscribe to our blog so you never miss a post, leave comments and feedback, and recommend this blog to your friends and coworkers!