What's Nu - an e-newsletter from Jewish Family Service of New Mexico

July 30, 2010

Welcome to the first Jewish Family Service of New Mexico (JFS) e-newsletter. Thanks to friends and supporters of JFS, we were able to put together a list of people who may be interested in learning more about our services to the community. If you do not wish to receive future e-newsletters from us click here for our unsubscribe form.

Vision and Mission

We endeavor to achieve our vision, "Repairing the World – Helping One Family at a Time" by staying true to our mission:

Guided by Jewish values, we offer targeted social services that help preserve and improve the quality of life for New Mexicans.

In this Issue:

Message from the President
 Ed JordanDear Friend of JFS,

Hello! I’m pleased to present the first edition of the JFS monthly e-newsletter, What’s NU? The word NU is a Yiddish word and our own Rabbi Kantrowitz tells us, “...it is almost impossible to translate. The word NU means something like ...So, what’s up?’" It is often used alone, in an inquisitive voice... as in “Nu?” We feel What’s NU? will be a great tool for us to communicate with you and all JFS’ friends on a monthly basis. We will keep you up to date on the latest services, events and activities that JFS is doing in our community.

Look for exciting information in this e-newsletter regarding our many different programs like Senior Transportation, Health and Wellness, Food Pantry, Aging well at Home and many more. We will also post information on volunteers, clients, and JFS events, which reminds me… be sure to Save the Date - April 3, 2011 for our annual FUNdraiser. It is going to be one of the best events in our community this year!!

I’ve been on the Board of Directors at JFS for 8 years now and as each month passes I learn more about the organization and the meaningful work it does to improve the lives of families throughout the State. This significant work could not be done without the generous support of the hundreds of individual donors and volunteers and dozens of organizations that fund us. We are grateful for everyone’s support!

Please help us by getting the word out about the great work we do in the community. I invite you to forward this e-newsletter to your friends and family members and encourage them to subscribe to What’s NU? They can just follow this link to subscribe.

I sincerely hope you’ll enjoy this e-newsletter and will continue to support the important work of JFS - making the world a better place by helping one family at a time!

Enjoy your summer!

Ed Jordan
Ed Jordan
President

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New Specialized Geriatric Case Management Service Available!
Do you have a senior friend or family member that needs help but you are not sure how to help them?

Call JFS - We Can Help!

JFS’ new Geriatric Case Management service is available to help you and your loved ones navigate the often difficult life planning issues that come with aging. This new service, offered at an affordable rate, provides customized support services designed to meet the individual needs of each customer and their family members. Services are designed to help with a variety of issues including:

Services are provided by Hileia Seeger, MSW, GCM (pictured, right). Ms. Seeger is an associate Geriatric Case Manager with five years of experience who is registered with the National Association of Professional Geriatric Case Managers, and is a member of the Association of Gerontologic Education in Social Work (AGESW) and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).

JFS also has free Case Management services available to those 60 years of age or older as well as a wealth of resources and other direct services to help seniors and those who care for them. Call Rivka at 505-348-4516 for personal and confidential information on how we can help.

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JFS Services
JFS has 16 Different Programs & Services to Help People:

Aging Well at Home Program

Helping Our Community’s Most Vulnerable

Nurturing Our Jewish Community

Call our Community Resource Specialist, Rivka Rabinovich, at 505-348-4516 for more information about any of these services or visit our website at www.jfsnm.org. You may also click any of the links above to go directly to that page on our web site.

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Rabbi Min’s Message
The mission statement of Jewish Family Service of New Mexico reads: “Guided by Jewish values, we offer targeted social services that help preserve and improve the quality of life for New Mexicans.” What are these Jewish values? How do they help guide the day-to-day work that we do at JFS? When new employees join the staff of JFS, they are introduced to eighteen of these basic Jewish values. (Why eighteen? Because that number is associated with life; the word “Chai” has a Hebrew numeric value of 18.) In this space of the e-newsletter, I’ll introduce these values one at a time, along with a brief idea of how each value informs JFS’ work.

#1 Love your neighbor as yourself (V’ahavta l’reyecha c’mocha).
Based on a biblical verse (Leviticus 19:18), this value reminds us of two things: to treat others as well as we treat ourselves AND to treat ourselves well. In Jewish tradition, “love” is less of an emotional feeling of attraction and attachment and more of a commandment to care through direct action. When JFS staff members help a frail elder obtain a ramp so they can remain in their own home longer, or transports a client to a physician appointment, or decreases someone’s sense of isolation, loneliness and fear through socialization activities, we are carrying out that value through our actions. By caring for ourselves and other staff members, we are trying to model self care, as well as helping the organization as a whole become stronger.

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Rabbi Kantrowitz’ World Reach
Rabbi Kantrowitz was one of ten Rabbis selected to go on the first Rabbinical Delegation of American Jewish World Service (AJWS), a nonprofit group that assists isolated, poor and struggling communities all over the world to better themselves. Following the Jewish imperative of repairing what is broken in the world by taking responsibility and acting to help, last June the group of Rabbis went into the jungle of the Yucatan peninsula to the small village of Muchucuxcah for a nine day service-learning trip. At night the group slept on hammocks in small thatched huts, and during the day they hauled concrete blocks and bags of sand down rocky paths into the jungle to assist the local villagers in building small fish tanks. These fish tanks would house specially selected fish that could thrive in the jungle heat, and the water from the tanks would fertilize the fields - a carefully researched strategy to deal with the malnutrition resulting from the agricultural impacts of global warming and pollution. You can learn more in the upcoming issue of The Link or at this website: http://action.ajws.org/goto/RabbiMinKantrowitz


Rabbi Min Kantrowitz in Muchucuxcah during her AJWS trip.

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In Albuquerque, call JFS for Senior-friendly* Senior Transportation Services!
We heard you! Many of our senior transportation service customers asked for later afternoon service and we made it happen!

Door to Door Transportation to Doctors & Shopping*What is “Senior-Friendly” transportation?
JFS defines “senior-friendly transportation” using the Beverly Foundation 5 'A's of Senior Friendly Transportation as a guide in developing its service offering:

Find out why our STP customers RAVE about our service! Refer a senior friend or try it yourself today. For more information, click here for the STP page on our web site.

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Pet Food Drive for Seniors!
 JFS’ Food Pantry is now accepting dog and cat food! We are working with senior programs in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho to meet a need of many low-income seniors—the need to help them keep their pets. Many seniors have to choose between feeding themselves and their pets, or have to consider giving up their best friend. If you love your dog or cat, you know how important pets are to others who share your love of animals. For many seniors, their pets are very important, and sometimes their only companions. Please assist us with helping seniors continue this love affair with their pets by donating dry or canned cat or dog food to the JFS Food Pantry. Call 291-1818 for more information about how you can help!

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Jewish Family Service of New Mexico

JFS is a beneficiary agency of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico, a participating agency of United Way of Central New Mexico, and is supported by dozens of other organizations and hundreds of donors. Please visit www.jfsnm.org for more information.

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© Copyright 2010 Jewish Family Service of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. All rights reserved.