Monday, November 2, 2015

Year 2, Setting New Goals

A lot has been going on at JFS as I continue to work to improve and expand the services JFS provides to the Survivor Community. I am happy to report that in the just over a year I have been working at JFS that we are helping an additional 207 Survivors. That is a huge increase in the amount of people we are helping in just a year!

A couple of weeks ago I sent out the 2nd ever JFS Holocaust Survivor Newsletter which allows us to keep Survivors in the community up to date on what services we are providing, especially new programs, and it keeps them informed on any changes to restitution funds that have occurred.





Another project I have been working on is assisting with the completion of Polish Pension applications for Survivors. So far we have filled out, and mailed over 70 applications with a few more on the way. This has been an immense undertaking that would not have been possible without the tireless work by several people in the office.

I have also continued my work with the Alpha Omega program. To date we have served/ are serving 20 clients who have either completed, or are nearing completion, free dental work to restore function and eliminated pain. This program has acted as a lifeline for the Survivor community and has allowed them to received free dental care for a wide variety of problems which impact their daily lives.

Additionally, I have been working on developing new programs to provide hearing aid and vision assistance to Survivors. These are two areas that are in need of programming to assist low income Survivors, and I am excited to be in on the ground floor of these programs. 

Finally, I have been working on developing a new training that will educate the care giver agencies we work with on the needs of the Survivor community they serve, as well as the needs of the broader Jewish community they serve. Additionally, I am working on converting my training series from my first year as  VISTA into an online training each new hire can take in order to educate them on the experiences of the Survivor community.

Until next time!