Gulf Coast’s JFS Family Support Services provides a safety net for Jewish individuals and families of Pinellas and Pasco counties during times of need. This includes linking the person with needed services and providing emergency support for shelter, in-home care, crisis financial aid, medicine, and food.  Jewish communal staff work very closely with referral sources including all local Rabbis, synagogues, Philip Benjamin Tower, JCC, Federation, and other Jewish organizations to ensure JFS is providing the services most needed in the community.

Clients often write notes to let us know how they are doing.  “I must say the amount of generosity is so unbelievable…the assistance was more than anyone could ask for and receive…” from a recent client note.

In addition to emergency financial support, Family Support Services has a Food Pantry with both Kosher and basic food items available to Jewish individuals and families.  Throughout the year, donated non-perishable food is collected from the local community.

If you or someone you know needs support services, or if you want to volunteer with us, contact Gail Osnos, Family Support Coordinator, at 727-479-1806.

This program is made possible thanks to a grant by the Jewish Federation of Pinellas & Pasco Counties. We support the Federation’s principle of Klal Yisrael and the importance of support of the Federation Annual Champaign.

Please join us for this UN Day Event at the Florida Holocaust Museum on June 26th, 2013

NEWS RELEASE

The year 2013 is the 70^th Anniversary of the Uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto.

 A newly released film “Never Forget to Lie” will be shown on PBS, please check your local listings. http://video.pbs.org/video/2364991369

The subject of the film are children holocaust survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto. This critically-acclaimed film by director Marian Marzynski, addresses his own wartime childhood experiences as well as that of other child survivors, including Edward and Halina Herman. The film explores childhood feelings about Poland, the Catholic Church, and the ramifications of identities forged under circumstances where survival began with the directive to the children “never forget to lie”. The film will be broadcast on PBS FRONTLINE on April 30, 2013 after a series of theatrical screenings in New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and other US cities as well as in Europe:  in Athens, Paris, Rome, Lisbon, Prague, Krakow and Warsaw..

 Biography of Marian Marzynski, the director of the film Marian Marzynski was born in Poland and survived the Holocaust as a Jewish child

hidden by Christians. He has been making documentary films for over 50 years, first in Poland, where during the ’60s he was one of the pioneers of “cinema verite”. then in Denmark, and for the last 30 years in the United States.  He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1982 and won two Emmy Awards for his documentaries,and  a major contributor to such PBS series as The American Experience, NOVA and Frontline.  Some of his films Return to Poland (1982), and Jewish Mother (1984), have dealt with the subject of Holocaust. The three hour long Shtetl (1996), became the most important work of his career.  In 2005 he produced a film for “Frontline”, A Jew Among the Germans, a story of building in Berlin, a memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe.

There are hundreds of reasons to become a foster parent, each with their own personality, challenges and rewards. Our agency needs all types of foster parents from a variety of backgrounds to meet the needs of the children and youth of South West Florida. We are a non-Profit foster care agency linking with the community to provide support to foster parents, adoptive parents and children. To read more please click the link FamilyFosterCareLicensing&Placement

Following the March 26^th Refugee Youth Services Career Fair, participating clients might be closer to completing the sentence “I want to be a …” That was the theme of the event that brought nine professionals to our Clearwater offices. An immigration attorney, dental assistant, graphic designer, computer programmer, bilingual interpreter, professional soccer player, cosmetologist, home health care nurse, and a massage therapist shared information and insights about their chosen occupations in small group interviews conducted by RYS students. Clients queried guests about “nuts and bolts” issues such as salary, required training, and work hours but also asked about job satisfaction and future employment trends.

Operation Afikomen, Gulf Coast JFCS’ semi-annual food drive, begins March 1^st and continues through April 30^th.  All the area synagogues, the JCC Suncoast, and the Jewish Federation of Pinellas & Pasco will be promoting the food drive to their members and helping to collect nonperishable food. This year GCJFCS is participating in the One Million Dollar Feinstein Challenge.  The more food the community donates, the more dollars GCJFCS will receive from the Feinstein Foundation to purchase additional food.

In its 16^th consecutive year, the Feinstein Challenge will divide $1 million among nonprofit hunger-fighting agencies nationwide to help them collect food and raise funds this March and April. Donating during this challenge makes you a partner in the most successful ongoing effort ever to fight hunger.

Drop off locations are listed below. For more information contact Gail Osnos, Family Support Services Coordinator, at 727-479-1806 or gosnos@gcjfcs.org.

Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Services • Chabad of St Petersburg • Congregation Beth Shalom Congregation B’nai Emunah • Congregation B’nai Israel • JCC of West Pasco • JCC Suncoast • Jewish Federation of Pinellas & Pasco Counties •Temple Ahavat Shalom • Temple B’nai Israel • Temple Beth-El •

Senior CareConnect … Peace of Mind for the Entire Family

It starts with a concerned phone call from a loving son or daughter troubled about their mother or father to our JFS staff. Often times the call is from out of the area.  Their parents vital needs are simply too great and overwhelming for them to address from afar. They speak of awaking at night worried about their mother or father’s health concerns and if their basic needs are being met. During the call, the care manager can hear the tone of their voice change from distressed to one of relief, knowing affordable services exist to give them the peace of mind they so desperately seek. This peace of mind is created by Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Service’s Senior CareConnect program.

Care managers are experts in the field of aging and disabilities.  Senior CareConnect helps elderly adults and their families manage their day-to-day living arrangements. We  visit with the elderly loved one, complete a comprehensive assessment and help link our clients with services they need to safely remain in their home whenever possible. We establish and maintain regular contact with the family and service providers – acting as a liaison, an advocate, an additional pair of eyes, ears and arms.

There is never a need to carry the responsibility of your loved one alone. Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Service’s Senior CareConnect program is just a phone call away.

Contact:

Senior Care Connect
727.479.1836
14041 Icot Blvd
Clearwater, FL 33760

srcareconnect@gcjfcs.org

Senior Care Connect is a private-pay service.

David Delrahim, Esq.

If it were not for the conviction to work for a just society and to improve the lives of those living in this society, the world would be a lesser place.  Few people take this to heart like David Delrahim has.  He plays an active role in a number of organizations and is a committed volunteer, philanthropist, and recently elected member of the Board of Directors at Gulf Coast.  David is an attorney at Englander Fischer in St Petersburg where he practices Business and Real Estate Litigation. David was elected to the Gulf Coast Board in July 2012.  “Barbara Sterensis introduced me to the agency and encouraged me to find out more and get involved.  I learned that Gulf Coast is an important part of the Jewish community in Pinellas and Pasco Counties but is also one of the area’s largest social service agencies, serving thousands of people each year throughout the state.  Programs like the Non Custodial Parent Employment Program that helps fathers who have lost custody of their children find and keep jobs so they can pay child supports is innovative and focuses on self-reliance rather than state assistance.  Helping those who need a hand up not a hand out, is something that appealed to me and I was excited to become a Board member.  Since then, I have learned so much more about the refugees we help bring to the United States and the Holocaust survivors we help.  That underlying philosophy of Tikkun Olam is one of my core values and it is the essence of Gulf Coast’s mission”, David said in a recent interview.

David is originally from Chicago but moved to Pinellas when he attended Stetson Law School where he was president of the Jewish Law Students Association.  Pursuing a career in law was not always in the cards for David.  He and his best friend founded and owned a DJ company while in high school, playing at weddings and bar and bat mitzvahs.  His love of music led him to major in Radio and Television at the University of Central Florida and work at WLOQ, a smooth jazz station in Winter Park, Florida.  While working there he realized that law was really his passion and received his Juris Doctor in Law in 2008.   David is on the Board of the Young Adult Division of the Jewish Federation of Pinellas and Pasco Counties and on the Executive Board of Menorah Manor.  David is engaged to Heather Sconnely with a May wedding planned.

Jared Abelman

The Jewish proverb, “It is not what one says but rather what one does that makes all the difference in the world”, aptly describes Jared Abelman.  On the Gulf Coast Board since 2010, our youngest board member gives back to the community, near and far in many ways and lives Tikkun Olam.  Jared is a St Petersburg native who has lived in New York and London and includes a love of travel among his passions.  He graduated with a Bachelors of Science Degree from the University of Pennsylvania where he majored in Public Policy and Finance.   He is a securities trader with American Municipal Securities and was with Citigroup’s Forex division before that.  “When I came back to live in St Pete, to be closer to family, I knew it was my civic and religious duty to make a strong impact in the community.  I was familiar with Gulf Coast already, having been raised here, but I didn’t know how much of a difference the agency makes with the whole community.  I have been fortunate enough to have some time and financial resources to help out where I can”, commented Jared.  Indeed he has.  Jared is on Gulf Coast’s Finance Committee, was on the FACES Gala Committee and visits our programs and clients when he can.  He has co-chaired fundraising events at Shorecrest Preparatory School and sits on its Alumni Association Board, and has volunteered at Temple Beth-El’s Art Festival, among other volunteer activities.

“One of the most important things that everyone should know about Gulf Coast is that it understands its core mission to the Jewish Community and the newly opened Harvey Hertz Jewish Family Services Center is a testament to that but also that the organization’s reach extends far beyond that.  Gulf Coast helps you no matter who you are.”

Our Board of Directors are: Barbara Sterensis, Chair; Jay Miller, Vice-Chair; Rabbi Gary Klein, Secretary; David Pilkington, Treasurer; Jared Abelman, Judy Benjamin, Dr. David Bernstein, David Delrahim Esq., Todd Foster, Esq., Emily Gurtman, Anthony Holloway, William Israel, Julie Klavans, Susan Levy, Steve Raymund, Jan Sher, Joyce Tawil, Lisa Titen, Terri Ziegler