Alyona – Page 4 – Jewish Family Services

Jewish Family Services Casino needs volunteers

We're looking for volunteers for our Casino which will be held at the Starlight Casino at West Edmonton Mall from Wednesday August 23 to Thursday August 24. Please contact our Casino Chair: Linda Goody at lindagoody@gmail.com or 780-995-2115 if you're interested in joining our volunteer team.

by Alyona

Thank you for volunteering for JFSE!

Jewish Family Services would like to thank Marzia Saramad for volunteering 128 hours through Catholic Social Services Links for Success program. We’re very thankful that Marzia decided to continue volunteering with our English Classes and would like to share her story.

"JFS has been serving the Edmonton community since the 1950s as a not-for-profit organization. The organizational principles are based on Jewish values (Healing the world, Fairness, Caring, and Respect). Although it has a Jewish foundation, its services are open to people of all backgrounds. Their goal is to provide support to people suffering social, economic, and mental adversity.

The outreach services where I volunteer include community support programs for newcomers and others in need. The outreach team assists clients in finding social services and in addressing current issues such as employment barriers and language barriers. One of the services is Canadian Newcomer Support, which provides information about settlement, community referrals, money management, and job search assistance. In addition, they offer friendly English classes for people with basic, intermediate, and advanced English levels.

My job involves assisting English classes both in person and online. I was sometimes able to help the outreach team with other tasks they needed, such as writing, creating questionnaires and consent forms, conducting interviews, handling intakes, entering data, and sometimes doing technical tasks.

I gained valuable experience that I hope will be useful for my future career. As a part of my trip, I met a lot of people and organizations, including the Sexual Assault Center of Edmonton, Edmonton Multicultural Coalition, and Islamic Family and Social Services Association, attended the MacEwan University presentation on gender and migration using intersectionality approach, and met with representatives from different organizations that work on GBV, migration, and reducing it. There were a lot of networking opportunities, some friendships, and professional connections.

Although I cannot speak specifically about what I learned, spending time with people from different countries was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. My intention is not to make my story inspirational. Those little moments brought me joy and a smile even for an hour that I would like to share with you. The hours I spent there were precious to me because I was forgetting about everything here - no stress, no anxiety, no depression, and no worries about finishing my
master's degree or finding a job. During those hours in the library, we knew how to assemble pieces and make something meaningful out of them. I learned being kind brings no harm and it is important to know what you can offer to others to make their life easier.

It is my pleasure to thank Irit, Assel, Frank, Teresa for providing The Link for Success program and Meital from JFS who allowed me to become part of the team, and all the participants who made this journey enjoyable. Through the Link program, I gained a lot of knowledge and experience from everyone."

Marzia Saramad
-Afghanistan
Links for Success # 12- Final Project

by Alyona

JFSE won this year's Funded Partner Campaign Award at the United Way Red Tie Gala!

Jewish Family Services won the Funded Partner Campaign Award at the Red Tie Gala event on March 16, 2023.

This award is presented to the United Way Funded Partner campaign that showed outstanding commitment, dedication and creativity executing their own United Way employee campaign.

by Alyona

We have Moved!

Jewish Family Services has now relocated to:

ParkWest 5, Suite 104, 15023 – 123rd Ave NW Edmonton AB T5V1J7

We are excited to announce our move and delighted to be together again in our new space

Moving an organization, the size of JFSE is not a simple decision or process. It involved balancing the need for space, accessibility and parking, while ensuring financial sustainability. We want to acknowledge the support of community and the dedication of the staff and board throughout the process. We have found a new home that meets our needs in ensuring we have the capacity and resources to continue to meet the needs of the Edmonton Community.

Services remain available in-person, via video connections or phone. For those coming to our new office, there is ample parking. The 905 bus stop is at our door, connecting to other routes at Westmount or Northgate Centre. Staff will ensure alternate transportation is accessible for clients when bus service gaps exist.

If you have any questions please contact us at info@jfse.org or call 780-454-1194.

Our contact information remains the same and we look forward to seeing you in our new facility.

by Alyona

Jewish Family Services has been nominated for a United Way Red Tie Award!

Jewish Family Services has been nominated for United Way of the Alberta Capital Region’s Awards of Distinction for the following categories:

Employee Campaign Chair (ECC) of the Year - Private Sector - Machelle Curtis
Funded Partner

Our organization’s tremendous work on the 2022 workplace campaign has a meaningful impact on the lives of so many people in our community. We’re proud of our effort!

by Alyona

Volunteers Needed

Please join the Jewish Family Services volunteer team on February 26 ,2023 to bake Hamantaschen from 9:00am to 3:00pm and/or to deliver the cookies on March 5, 2023.

Please contact Rhonda at JFSE 780-454-1194 or seniors@jfse.org for more information or to sign up and we will contact you with more details.

We look forward to working with you for this holiday celebration!

by Alyona