Andrew Pawlicki-Sinclair has joined the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona as the assistant director for leadership development and engagement. He has worked for Arizona Serve and the Arizona Conservation Corps managing AmeriCorps national service grants. Before that, Pawlicki-Sinclair served as an AmeriCorps VISTA member at Santa Rita High School… Read more »
Dawn Messer Dawn Messer, founder of Mindful Meanderings, will be the keynote speaker for the 15th annual CHAI Circle retreat on Sunday, Nov. 10, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Hacienda del Sol Guest Ranch Resort, 5501 N. Hacienda del Sol Road. CHAI Circle, a program of Jewish Family… Read more »
Linda Tumarkin poses with the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s mission statement inside the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy, June 27, 2019. (Román Urias/AJP)
Linda Tumarkin, 79, has been an active volunteer in the Tucson Jewish community since shortly after moving to town in 1971, including three terms as chair of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and four terms as chair of the Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council. She was on the… Read more »
JFSA Young Leadership Campaign volunteer Sarah Singer (left) presents a check to Tucson Hebrew Academy Head of School Laurence Kutler (center) and outgoing THA Board Chair Neil Kleinman. (Martha Lochert)
Two Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Young Leadership special teams received funds to disburse in the community, which they presented at the JFSA Annual Meeting and Community Awards Celebration on Thursday, May 9 at the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Recipient agencies included the University of Arizona Hillel Foundation, Jewish… Read more »
Volunteers unload groceries for Jewish Family & Children’s Services’s 2018 Matza & More campaign. (Jewish Family & Children's Services)
For more than 40 years, Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona’s Matza & More project has packed and delivered Passover bags to Tucson area families who otherwise could not afford food and items for a Seder. Volunteers and staff fill the bags with fresh vegetables, gefilte fish,… Read more »
A view from the lobby of the Harvey and Deanna Evenchik Center for Jewish Philanthropy, home of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona and the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona (Martha Lochert)
Editor’s Note: This is the last in a series of four articles on how the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona allocates funds. The first, in the Oct. 12 issue, focused on youth and family education programs at synagogues. The second, in the Nov. 23 issue, looked at national and… Read more »
Anjulie Pfeifer wanted her office at Jewish Family & Children’s Services to feel homey. (Micheal Romero)
Visiting counselor Anjulie Pfeifer’s office is like visiting grandma’s house. Or going to a hipster coffee shop. Or seeing Smokey Bear’s cabin. At least that is what her clients at Jewish Family & Children’s Services say when they walk across the threshold of her office. Scenic paintings line the… Read more »
This is part one of a series on the Jewish agency volunteers who received 2018 Special Recognition Awards at the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Jewish Community Awards Celebration held May 10. Max Cohen, Jewish Family & Children’s Services President and CEO Carlos Hernandez attributes much of Jewish Family… Read more »
JEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN’S SERVICES has been selected as a semi-finalist in Social Venture Partner’s “Fast Pitch” competition. LIZ HERNANDEZ, JFCS director of marketing and development, will talk about the Project Safe Place program. Five attorneys from the law firm FARHANG & MEDCOFF, Robert Bernheim, Robert Garcia, Meredith Marder,… Read more »
Alvin Schechter, 92, died Jan. 23, 2017. Prior to his retirement, Mr. Schechter worked at Royal Buick. He volunteered at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, where he received numerous awards. Mr. Schechter was preceded in death by his wife, Ileane Schechter. Survivors include his children, Sheryl (Richard) Marcus and… Read more »
Rabbi Stephanie Aaron blows a shofar at Jewish Family & Children’s Services’ ethical wills workshop at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging Aug. 11. (Korene Charnofsky Cohen)
An ordinary will is about leaving money and property. But there is also a way to leave the legacy of who you are and your values, philosophy, religious beliefs, what you hold most dear — even your favorite recipe. This is called an ethical will. About 20 people gathered… Read more »
Update July 8: This event has been postponed due to a bereavement. JFCS hopes to reschedule on a date in August. Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona will hold a free ethical wills workshop for the Jewish community on Thursday, July 14, from 1-3 p.m. at Handmaker… Read more »
L-R) Gail Ben-Jamin, Ben Siegel and Ester Siegel pack Passover bags at Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona in 2014.
The Matza & More program sponsored by Jewish Family & Children’s Services brings Passover bags to Tucson-area residents who otherwise could not afford food and other items for a seder. From children to seniors, volunteers find significant connections in this longstanding program. Gary Cohen’s two sons, Grant, 11, and… Read more »
Andrea Siemens Even discussing domestic abuse can be controversial. Jewish women face cultural and religious stigmatization when they get out of their abusive relationships, said Andrea Siemens of Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Southern Arizona at a joint presentation with Robin Memel Fox of the Emerge! Center Against Domestic Abuse,… Read more »
Deborah Kalar-Crowder, emergency financial assistance manager at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, receives packages for Mitzvah Magic. For a family struggling to make ends meet, the gifts and holiday items provided by Tucson’s Mitzvah Magic program are “a godsend,” one recipient recently told the AJP. We’ll call her “Rachel.” Mitzvah Magic, a program of Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy and Jewish Family & Children’s… Read more »
Paulina Goldberg (left) and Raisa Moroz, Holocaust case manager at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, review paperwork at Goldberg’s Council House apartment. Raisa Moroz, Holocaust case manager/program manager at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, has more than 80 clients on her caseload. But she wants more. “I want people to know this program is available,” says Moroz, who estimates that there are 120 or more Holocaust survivors in Southern Arizona. Every… Read more »
The Claims Conference recently negotiated changes with the German government that should make more Holocaust survivors eligible to collect ghetto pension and one-time ghetto fund payments. Raisa Moroz, Holocaust case manager at Jewish Family & Children’s Services, explains that under previous ghetto pension rules, people had to have lived… Read more »
Jewish Family & Children’s Services will hold events celebrating two programs next month. The LEAH — Let’s End Abusive Households program, which serves victims of domestic violence within a Jewish cultural and religious context, will mark its 11th year of service with a free house party at Covenant House… Read more »
Shira Ledman Until recently, government grants accounted for around 75 percent of the budget at Jewish Family & Children’s Services. But after losing big chunks of federal, state and local funding over the past 18 months — bringing the government share of the agency’s budget down to about 50 percent —… Read more »
