The Jewish Family Service of San Diego’s Center for Jewish Care delivered 600 Seder packages, filled with traditional food items such as matzoh, grape juice and Gefilte fish, and 360 kosher Passover meals to seniors ahead of the holiday. Each package also contained handwritten cards and Haggadahs, which tell the story of Passover. The center was launched recently to offer services to support the Jewish community, such as its year-round home-delivered meal program for homebound seniors. This year, more than double the number of meals were delivered for Passover, with help from donations from the San Diego Jewish Academy, Shevet Galim Israel Scouts of San Diego and Congregation Beth El.

Jewish Family Service is featured in this list of ways to give back in San Diego for it’s volunteer opportunities helping to deliver meals to isolated older adults. If you have a couple hours during the week, you too can help deliver nutritious meals to older and disabled adults.

As the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its eighth week and intensifies, the resulting refugee crisis has become the fastest-moving exodus of European civilians since World War II. Jewish Family Service of San Diego, along with the San Diego Rapid Response Network (SDRRN) Migrant Shelter Services, is helping hundreds of asylum-seeking Ukrainian families who have made their way to San Diego.

Thousands of refugees who have left Afghanistan since summer are celebrating Ramadan in the U.S. Some are marking the holiday from their new apartments, others from hotel rooms, as resettlement organizations struggle to find them permanent housing in an expensive market. Etleva Bejko, director of refugee and immigration services for Jewish Family Service of San Diego, said the biggest challenge for resettlement agencies has been finding housing for refugees.“There has been a shortage of rental units available,” Bejko said. “It’s not an Afghan evacuee issue; it’s not a refugee issue; it’s a California issue.”

The City encourages anyone experiencing homelessness and living out of their vehicle to use one of the free Safe Parking Program lots operated by Jewish Family Service, where they can also access resources such as shelter, housing, employment, and other wraparound supportive services.

For weeks, drivers have felt a pinch at the pump and this burden is taking its toll on non-profits trying to help people facing food insecurity. Jewish Family Service of San Diego has seen the demand for food climb with a 20% increase in need from the community over the past few months.

“For a lot of people this is their first time coming out and asking for food and that’s really in response to the increased gas prices and increased cost of living,” said Kristine Stensberg, the Senior Director of Nutrition and Aging for Jewish Family Service of San Diego.

President Biden said the United States will accept up to 100,000 refugees from Ukraine, and many are expected to arrive in San Diego.

Since the war started, Moores has helped 12 families get out of Ukraine and into the U.S. She has been teaming up with Jewish Family Service to help families receive critical services and respite shelter through the SDRRN Migrant Shelter Services, which is operated by Jewish Family Service.

You may recognize an orange van at local grocery stores when Jewish Family Service volunteers pick up 4,000 pounds of fresh food per week to be re-distributed to those in need. “After the pandemic, starting in March of 2020, the need for food has doubled. Families are struggling to make ends meet, even more recently with the increase in gas and food. The cost of everything is higher. Families are needing to ask for help,” said Jewish Family Service’s Tom Stewart.

Algunas empresas y organizaciones sin fines de lucro que ofrecen servicio de transporte están sufriendo también por el aumento en los precios de gasolina.
Organizaciones que ofrecen este tipo de servicio para personas de la tercera edad o con discapacidad, funcionan a través de voluntarios, de los cuales están escasos en parte por el alto costo del precio de la gasolina.

Daily record-breaking gas prices are taking a toll on so many people and businesses in San Diego, including transportation services tailored for elderly and disabled people. Kristine Stensberg, Senior Director of Aging, Nutrition and Transportation for Jewish Family Service is interviewed.

Advocates say asylum claims & exemptions are not uniformly enforced at border crossings. So far this year, the San Diego Rapid Response Network has assisted 453 Ukrainians at the border.  That compares to 878 Ukrainians assisted during all of 2021, according to Kate Clark, the group’s Director of Immigration Services. Advocates are calling for the immediate repeal of policies that have allowed migrants to be turned away from the border before seeking asylum.

San Diego immigration experts called Friday for an end to Trump-era immigration restrictions as potentially thousands of desperate migrants from Ukraine and Russia begin to arrive in Tijuana.

Kate Clark, senior director of immigration services at Jewish Family Service, said that “Our recently arrived guests from Ukraine tend to be female heads of households with their children. Their spouses have stayed behind to fight for Ukraine’s continued independence.”

San Diego’s first guaranteed income pilot program launched on March 15 with 150 households across the County receiving their first monthly installment of $500. “I am super excited to see families actually get the money that they’ve been waiting for and us to be able to support them in this way,” said Khea Pollard, Director for San Diego for Every Child. The $2.9 million program is run by Jewish Family Service of San Diego with funding from the state’s budget surplus and Alliance Healthcare Foundation and gives families the choice to use the money in a way that works best for them.

In this 15-minute audio news feature, we hear an extended interview with Marinya, a Ukrainian asylum-seeker who made it into the U.S. with her 10- and 8- year-old daughters. They received assistance at the SDRRN Migrant Shelter Services operated by Jewish Family Service. Additionally, Kate Clark, JFS senior director of immigrant services, is interviewed about the pressing reasons why Title 42 should be lifted so that asylum seekers from around the world can seek safety and security.

People fleeing the war in Ukraine are arriving at the southern U.S. border and asking for asylum – but those efforts are being complicated by pandemic-era rules limiting entry into the country. Maryna and her 10- and 8- year-old daughters are among those who have actually made it into the country. They received assistance at the SDRRN Migrant Shelter Services operated by Jewish Family Service. It is time that Title 42 be lifted so that asylum seekers from around the world can seek safety and security.

Between June and Feb. 21, with the exception of one week, Russians were among the top-three nationalities assisted by the San Diego Rapid Response Network, which offers food and lodging to migrants after their release from U.S. border custody. The network has also been receiving a small but growing number of Ukrainians, and the volume is expected to increase in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion, assuming access to Mexico remains relatively easy.

Jewish Family Service of San Diego said that their organization will be one of the main touchpoints for Ukrainian asylum-seekers coming to the region, which could begin to happen in the upcoming weeks or months.

In this opinion piece by Dana Toppel, Chief Operating Officer, she addresses what it means to transition beyond pandemic life while caring for our self-health and moving forward at the same time. She writes, “As we approach the next phase of our journey along these strange and challenging times, we will need to become comfortable with holding polarities — opposite emotions — sometimes at the same time, during the same day.”

Espacio Migrante director and founder, Paulina Olvera Cáñez, shares five ways you can help support immigrant communities including volunteering as a translator at Jewish Family Service.

San Diego County has begun a community-based outreach and engagement effort using Mobile Crisis Response Teams, or MCRTs, for people experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis. Through a contract with JFS’s Breaking Down Barriers program, a prevention and early intervention program providing outreach and education to reduce stigma around mental illness, outreach workers will work with community organizations to connect to diverse communities and provide information about how to access services when there is a need.

Cafe X: By Any Beans Necessary was launched by Khea Pollard and Cynthia Ajani, to help propel systemic change for marginalized communities in San Diego. Pollard also serves as Director for San Diego for Every Child (coordinated and fiscally sponsored by JFS), where she administers San Diego’s first guaranteed income project designed to support generational wealth building in underserved communities and tackle racial and gender inequalities.

The state has dedicated funding toward humanitarian services for asylum seekers who have been released from federal immigration custody since before the pandemic. Gov. Gavin Newsom is now proposing to add an extra infusion of money to those efforts. He has proposed allocating an additional $110 million towards vaccinations and testing of asylum seekers, as well as isolation and quarantine requirements in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “A value of Jewish Family Services is to welcome the country’s newest arrivals,” Kate Clark, senior director of immigration said. “Our goal is making sure that public health is protected and to do that with dignity and respect is important.”

Established by Dr. Robert Rubenstein, in memory of his son David, the JFS-David Rubenstein Memorial Scholarship provides grants to students from San Diego’s Jewish community who plan to attend college or vocational school. The program awards scholarships of up to $5,000, based on financial need, academic performance, and community involvement.

In California, the average annual cost of infant care is nearly $17,000, which is $8,925 more than in-state public college tuition. This eye-opening study by the Economic Policy Institute finds that the average family in California would have to spend over 40% of their income to pay for child care for two children. These numbers highlight the need to help struggling families. Erin Hogeboom, Director of San Diego For Every Child (housed at Jewish Family Service), speaks to how Guaranteed Income is one way to provide funds for much needed help.