Last week, Jewish Family and Children’s Services, together with the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, hosted Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), Assemblywoman Lisa Swain and several other elected and community leaders to discuss issues of safety and security, mental health funding, public health funding and food insecurity.

“I am proud and honored to work with the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, an organization that serves more than 120,000 members of our community, and to support Jewish Family and Children’s Services’ mission of helping those in our community who are in need,” said Gottheimer. “The Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey and JFCS do so much for our community, creating a stronger, more vibrant Jewish experience in Northern New Jersey, across the country and around the world. We’re all coming together to help ensure the Federation and JFCS can continue that important work, and to ensure they have the critical security and resources they need.”

Assemblywoman Lisa Swain, of District 38, said: “I’m so pleased that we were able to get all of these people together to talk about the very important needs of our residents in New Jersey such as food security, mental health, security for our nonpublic schools, organizations … and just do everything we can to make sure that these basic needs are met for our residents.”

JFNNJ President Dan Shlufman was also pleased to be a part of the morning gathering. “We are so proud of the work that Jewish Family and Children’s Services do. They help families with food insecurity. They help with the mental health crisis … They have incredible social workers.”

With the steep rise in mental health issues as a result of COVID, Shlufman noted how the pandemic has had a significant effect on children. He was reassured by Gottheimer and Swain’s deep level of commitment to the mental health crisis and its ongoing severity.

As food insecurity continues, Gottheimer discussed funding for families. Shlufman explained, “If students don’t come to school fed and don’t have food available it’s very difficult for them to learn,” adding how proud the JFNNJ is to help fund so much of the food programs.

Tim Torell, the Jewish Community security director for the Federation, discussed safety and security. “It’s a constant evolution. It’s a constant process and you have to stay in front of things. You have to be forward-leaning in the security world, especially in the Jewish community with all the antisemitism.”

JFCS Board President Rachel Scheff commented: “We were incredibly grateful to have all of the government officials here and all of the professionals with us to learn a little bit more about the critical work that JFCS does. Of course, we are grateful to the Federation for the remarkable funding that they gave to support our food insecurity and emergency needs services and, as a board president, I am eternally grateful and proud of the remarkable work that our staff does. I am so happy they had the opportunity to share with our elected officials the needs in our community so that everybody can work collaboratively to be a part of helping our neighbors in need.”

Shlufman noted: “At Jewish Federation, the partnerships we have with agencies like Jewish Family and Children’s Services who deliver excellent services through their counseling, Meals on Wheels, food pantry, and more are critical to meeting the needs of those in our community. We are proud to fund these types of programs and are so fortunate to be able to collaborate with JFCS so that they can carry out this important work.”

“Our commitment to safety, hunger awareness and public health is paramount to our mission,” added Federation CEO Jason Shames. “Federation is glad to collaborate with Jewish Family and Children’s Services to facilitate these important conversations with elected officials.”

To learn more about all that JFCS does or get involved please visit https://www.jfcsnnj.org/

By Ronit Mershon