By Morgan Goad
Associate Director of Development, Jewish Family Services
As we come to the close of our fiscal year on June 30, JFS is reflecting on our recent celebrations, welcomes, and new initiatives!
Celebrations
After a Covid hiatus, we were thrilled to celebrate an in-person graduation of our Personal Care Aide training program! Five women graduated from the East End class this spring – a 100% graduation rate. The graduates, their families, JFS staff, and partners enjoyed an informal ceremony; this group of graduates were ready to get to work helping seniors who need them!
Our interns also celebrated their “graduation” as they completed their semesters of hands-on learning at JFS. We are so proud of each of them and wish them success in their future social work careers! See their photo on the right
May was National Foster Care Month, and JFS celebrated with the help of our partner, WTVR CBS 6. CBS 6 featured the stories of foster parents working alongside birth families to raise children all month long. In a televised interview, JFS Connecting Hearts’ Program Manager Denise Wise-David explained how “it takes a village to raise a child, and the village is all of us, lending a hand to make a difference in a child’s life.”
Welcomes
JFS is proud to welcome two well-respected licensed clinical psychologists to our Counseling staff and announce new Memory Assessment Services. Dr. Jennifer Morgan and Dr. Joy O’Grady provide neuropsychological evaluations for older adults, using standardized testing to determine the difference between the normal signs of aging and a mild cognitive impairment.
JFS’ Partnership for Behavioral Health in the East End has been providing counseling to children and families in the Fairfield Court neighborhood for the past year, helping address the harms of Adverse Childhood Experiences and build a brighter future. We are excited to welcome Jacquel Wims, LPC to the program as a full-time counselor, which will allow us to serve children and families in two additional neighborhoods: Creighton and Mosby Courts!
Initiatives
1905, 1938, 1989, and now 2022: JFS has helped Jewish families settle in Richmond four times since our founding. Today we are partnering with a broad network of agencies in Richmond to welcome families fleeing war in Ukraine. We are so grateful for the outpouring of generosity from the community so far!
As we strive to stay in step with the changing needs of the Richmond community, JFS remains focused on older adults and their families. JFS is proud to be collaborating with Beth Sholom Senior Living to create Richmond’s first in-home hospice program rooted in Jewish values and caring for people of all faiths.
Richmonders have trusted both organizations with their life’s journey for a combined 240 years. The need for this kind of support is already tremendous and will only continue to grow as our region ages. JFS and BSSL are honored to lead the way in this effort.
JFS is humbled to continue our mission to Transform Lives and Strengthen Our Community and profoundly grateful for your support. If you’d like to get involved, we are in need of volunteers to call and visit homebound older adults! Reach out to Teresa at tbaldwin@jfsrichmond.org to learn more.
Jewish Family Services is supported, in part, by a generous annual contribution and programming grants from the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond.
