Repair the World Service Corps and JFS Boulder make an impact
Repair the World strives to pursue a just world through meaningful service and learning. Together with JFS Boulder, community members are making a significant impact in the best possible ways. From bringing Passover joy to older adults to gathering youth volunteer opportunities, good work is being done throughout the community.
Find support with our grief and caregiver counseling groups
The JFS Mental Health department has partnered with clients, families, and the community to create opportunities to achieve emotional wellness and stability, including several support groups. For those dealing with grief and individuals who are caregivers, we offer support groups that guide clients on their wellness journey as they find the support they need.
Building strong social connections
We have two volunteer opportunities to help build connections with older adults and help prevent social isolation—both of which are essential to promoting a healthy lifestyle. Get involved, foster friendships, have fun, and do good throughout our Boulder community!
Fostering intergenerational friendships and reducing loneliness
If you are looking for a way to make a real impact on the life of a local person, consider joining our Friendly Visitor program. Friendly visitors are matched with an older adult or an adult with a disability for weekly visits or phone calls.
Toda Rabah (“many thanks!”) to our High Holiday and Thanksgiving volunteers
Not a day goes by without our JFS volunteers making a difference throughout the Boulder area. Their impact is especially significant during times such as the High Holidays and Thanksgiving when our older adult neighbors may need a reminder that being a part of a community means that people come together to show they care.
Hanukkah 2023: Celebrating light and hope in uncertain times
ewish Family Service celebrated Hanukkah with community members at 11 older adult communities in Boulder County this year. Volunteers, local rabbis, Boulder Jewish Family Service staff members, and facility staff worked together to put on a full celebration complete with candles, songs, latkes, sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts), and plenty of schmoozing.
Thank you for joining us at the JFS Boulder State of the Agency
JFS Boulder State of the Agency guests enjoyed an evening gathering with friends, learning about JFS, meeting new team members, and hearing program updates from JFS President and CEO Linda P. Foster and JFS Boulder Associate Director Melissa Mascarenas. Our supporters’ continued dedication to JFS Boulder makes a life-changing difference to the individuals and families who come to us to rebuild their lives. We could not make a collective impact without your support!
JFS Boulder introduces our new community engagement liaison: Tina Kantor
Our Boulder team is expanding with the creation of our new community engagement liaison position! Tina Kantor recently joined the JFS staff in this role, which is geared toward meeting the Boulder community’s needs and expanding our impact with new and renewed collaborations, partnerships, and outreach.
Accepting new clients for mental health services
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It is an essential part of overall health that must be prioritized and addressed. It directly impacts the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of ourselves, children, families, and communities. Whether you’re struggling with a major career decision, have depression or anxiety, trauma, or want to improve your coping skills, our mental health team is here to help.
Fostering Friendships
Sue, an older adult response and recovery specialist for Jefferson County Public Health, enjoys bird watching, grooming horses, reading, writing, watching older sitcoms, and dogs—and since 2019, being a JFS Friendly Visitor. The program matches volunteers with older adults or adults with disabilities, and the meaningful connections that are made are inspiring!
Meet our Volunteer of the Year
Since 2015, Eve Verderber has shared more than 728 hours of her time volunteering for JFS with her dedication to the Boulder Advisory Committee, Golden West Ambassador, and Friendly Visitor programs and holiday celebrations and the Reel Hope event. We are honored to announce Eve as this year’s JFS Boulder Volunteer of the Year Award recipient. Read about how Eve truly personifies the spirit of JFS.
JFS Boulder Expands Mental Health Services
JFS headquarters, based in Denver, has a robust Mental Health department providing services to the community for more than 40 years. JFS Boulder is building upon this infrastructure and has expanded its mental health services to provide ongoing high-quality mental health services for anyone needing therapy, including those impacted by the Marshall Fire or Straight-Line Wind Event in Boulder County.
Marshall Fire Resources
As the one-year anniversary of the Marshall Fire approaches JFS Boulder continues to provide resources for those impacted by the fire.
Friendly Visitor program: neighbors helping neighbors
The JFS Friendly Visitor program promotes connection, engagement, and fun between older adults and volunteers. Volunteers are individually matched with an older adult to provide an hour or so of companionship each week. Our volunteers find that they establish a rich connection with the individuals they meet. We ask our volunteers for a minimum commitment of six months, which gives them time to develop a relationship and form a bond.
JFS Boulder Ambassadors enrich community living
Evie Verderber and Mary Ann Wilner, long-term volunteers at JFS Boulder, launched an exciting new program this spring at the Golden West community in Boulder. As part of the program, two volunteers are assigned as Ambassadors to a specific senior living residence and will plan monthly Jewish cultural programs together with the residents.
Get to know our JFS Boulder team
Our dedicated team provides programs and services to help people feel supported, connected, and engaged, and the community is a better place thanks to their commitment.
Volunteers needed for the Boulder Jewish Festival
Join JFS Boulder at the 25th annual Boulder Jewish Festival on Sunday, June 12. Volunteers are needed at the JFS booth to help set up, work the booth, and tear down at the end of the event.
Celebrating Passover throughout our Boulder community
This year, senior community residents in the Boulder County area welcomed a traditional observance of Passover with both JFS Boulder volunteer para chaplains and local Rabbi’s leading services and returning to in-person experiences.
Marshall Fire response
The JFS Boulder team has responded to unprecedented community need from the Marshall Fire. Since December 30, 2021, we have responded to 344 applications, representing 944 individuals. Read how this extraordinary team is making a powerful impact throughout the community.
How JFS is helping wildfire relief efforts
Since the Marshall Fire roared through the Boulder area at the end of 2021, Jewish Family Service (JFS) has been actively responding to the community’s needs in the aftermath of this tragedy. Thanks to JEWISHcolorado’s Boulder Fire Relief Fund, CFBC’s Boulder County Wildfire Fund, and donations to JFS’s wildfire fund, we have responded to 328 applications and more than 900 individuals. In addition, we have provided referrals, case management, 125 computers, $12,000 in gift cards, and $288,6000 in direct financial assistance.
Families like the Engel’s . . .