Jewish Family Services @ The Reuben Senior & Community Resource Center

I am pleased to share with you a glimpse into one of our Jewish communal agencies—Jewish Family Services (JFS) at The Albert & Sara Reuben Senior and Community Resource Center (ASRSCRC). JFS strengthens our community by providing services and resources to our most vulnerable members. Executive Director Lori Moss and her staff at JFS are compassionate and highly qualified to provide a wide array of services to our Jewish and non-Jewish community.

JFS helps seniors live independently at home; supports individuals with mental health counseling; assists with resumes, job training, and job placement; offers respite for families of children with special needs; reaches out to new immigrant and refugee populations to help ease their transition; and maintains a Kosher community food pantry to reduce food insecurity. The need is great and unfortunately growing.
 

JFS helps families in our Jewish community survive each month. Jewish Family Services is dedicated to working with our community members in these critical areas and so many more.

Did you know?
• Twenty-two percent of Indiana’s children live
in poverty.
• 19.2 percent of residents in Marion County suffer from food insecurity.
• One out of three seniors in the United States falls every year; falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries in older adults.
• The unemployment rate in Marion County is
six percent; this is above the national average.

In September 2014:
• Two hundred individuals were served by Popsie’s
Pantry. Nearly 40 percent of those served are Jewish. Thirty percent of those who benefited from the pantry were children, and another 20 percent were over the age of 65.
• Thirty-five ongoing clients and seven new clients
received one-on-one support from the Jewish
community’s primary social worker.
• Fourteen children were cared for at Parents’ Night Out, a program that provides a respite for families with special needs children.
• Fourteen grab bars were installed in our Jewish
seniors’ homes to help prevent falls and facilitate aging in place.

As we transition and grow, JFS at The ASRSCRC will be offering new and increased services to meet the needs of our Jewish community. JFS is working with partner agencies to increase outreach to new immigrants and refugees in Indianapolis. One partner agency resettled 75 refugees in Indianapolis in the month of September alone, and the need is only expected to increase. Eighty-five percent of Hoosiers who suffer from serious mental health issues are not being served by Indiana’s public mental health system. To help combat this, we are in the early stages of establishing support groups at The Reuben Center in cooperation with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).

When you support the Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis through our Annual Campaign, you support JFS and the vital work that it does. Thank you for your ongoing support and for making your pledge to our 2015 Annual Campaign. Pledges made now are not due until December 31, 2015 and can be paid by credit card at www.jewishindianapolis.org, by sending us a check to the Jewish Federation, 6705 Hoover Road, Indianapolis, IN, 46260, or by making donations of stock. May we all go from strength to strength.

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