Page 8 - May-June-July Life In Naples
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SURVhIeVlpOingRS IN NEED
O ver the past year and a half Jewish Family & of life to seniors who have suffered the atrocities of the Holocaust are at
Community Services of Southwest Florida the core of our mission. We work with each survivor to make sure they live
( JFCS) has been called upon to provide our out their last years with the dignity, and with the services they deserve. Our
full-range of core services to 16 Holocaust case managers work with the Claims Conference to try and access funds on
survivors. The survivors are frail, and in desperate need. a case by case basis, but when that fails we turn to generous donors in our
The survivors are turning to us now for assistance for a community for support.
variety of reasons. For example, a Holocaust survivor is
managing well and then her spouse dies. Her benefits are Let me give you an example of what we do:
cut and she can no longer pay for food, health care and/ Mrs. H. is an 80 year old woman who is the sole caregiver for her 92
or rent. Or, a Holocaust survivor moves to our area from year old husband, a Holocaust survivor who has early dementia. They were
Boston, New York, Cleveland or New Jersey for warmer only married for two years when he was diagnosed. His children feel that
weather, to live near a friend, or near family. He or she he is her responsibility and her children want him placed in a facility.
had been getting home care services through their local She is socially isolated and emotionally stressed. JFCS arranged for her
JFCS through funding provided by the Conference on husband to receive a scholarship so that he could attend one of the JFCS
Material Claims against Germany, known as the Claims dementia respite groups. Through our emergency financial assistance
Conference. The survivors move here believing they can program JFCS provides two days of home health care which gives Mrs.
access the same services through our JFCS. However, H. respite and helps Mr. H. with basic needs. Mrs. H. attends the JFCS
JFCS of Southwest Florida does not receive funding caregiver support group on one of the days when she knows her husband
from the Claims Conference because the numbers of is at home with his aide.
survivors in our community, even if we include Lee and Mrs. R. is a Holocaust survivor who lost her husband after being married
Charlotte Counties, are too small. The mission of JFCS is 55 years. With the sudden death of her husband, also a Holocaust survivor,
to empower individuals and families by giving them tools her income dropped by close to 50 percent making meeting her basic needs
to address life’s challenges. Addressing food insecurity,
preventing homelessness, and providing a decent quality almost impossible.
JFCS helped Mrs. R.
obtain food stamps and
is helping her with food
through the JFCS Food
Pantry, bereavement
support and recently
assisted her with an
FPL bill.
For more information
about the JFCS Holocaust
Survivor Program and
how you might help please
contact Dr. Jaclynn Faffer
at jfaffer@jfcsswfl.org or
239.325.4444.
8 Life in Naples | May • June • July 2016
