Congressman Brian Bilbray, representative of the 50th Congressional District of California, and Steve Danon, his Chief of Staff, took a special tour of the Turk Family Center today.  Accompanied by JFS Board President Steve Levine and Board Member Mathew Kostrinsky, Congressman Bilbray heard about the many programs that we provide throughout San Diego County and the tremendous impact we have on the community. While stopping by our Hand Up Youth Food Pantry, Congressman Bilbray was introduced to a young wife of a Marine who discussed how important JFS has been to her family; not only providing nutritious food, but also relocation services and counseling. Congressman Bilbray was also briefed on our On the Go transportation program for older adults, Mentoring Mothers, the JFS Fix-It Service, and the programs we operate in the Coachella Valley. It was a great opportunity to meet with Congressman Bilbray and share our story.

From left to right: Matt Kostrinsky, Jill Spitzer, Congressman Bilbray, and Steve Levine

Congressman Bilbray with Shelly Hahne, Hand Up Youth Food Pantry Coordinator

Not only is Andrew Hoffman our July Employee of the Month, but we’ve been asking the community to vote for Andrew to be the San Diego Padre’s representative for People Magazine and Major League Baseball’s “All Stars Among Us” Campaign.  Good News – He Won!  As a winner, he’ll be attending MLB’s All-Star game on Tuesday, July 13th as representing the San Diego Padres, and our Hand Up Youth Food Pantry.  This is a great honor for Andrew, the food pantry and Jewish Family Service.  But as Shelly Hahne, Coordinator of the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry, can attest, “Andrew has always been an All-Star at JFS.”

I asked Shelly to write a little more about Andrew so you can get a full sense of his impact at JFS.  We are very proud of this accomplishment.

“Andrew treats everyone with the utmost respect, regardless if they are a co-worker, client, donor, or volunteer at JFS.  This respect is reciprocated by those who come in contact with Andrew.  This can be seen when Andrew attends Hand Up food distributions and clients begin chanting “Andrew! Andrew! Andrew!”  They chant his name and continuously ask how he is doing because they feel a special connection to him as someone who interacts with them as a person, not just as part of his job.  He has a special gift for remembering almost every client’s name, an exceptional skill when one considers that Andrew has served food to more than 3,360 people at the Downtown/Balboa Park site alone and he can place someone’s name with their face even after they have not picked up food for six months!

Tom Garfinkel, Padres COO, presenting Andrew with a $1,500 check for the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry from the San Diego Padres

Working at JFS for more than two years, Andrew has provided administrative support to a number of programs in JFS’ Community Service Department.  He currently holds the following titles:

• Adoption Alliance Administrative Assistant
• Hand Up Youth Food Pantry Administrative Assistant & Outreach Specialist
• Project SARAH Administrative Assistant
• Supporting Jewish Single Parents Administrative Assistant

Basically, Andrew does it all and is the glue that holds several programs together!  Andrew maintains a sense of calmness that resonates among co-workers.  With involvement in so many programs, Andrew helps to coordinate and attends multiple events each month.  He is able to pull together all of the little details that make an event successful while keeping a composed and relaxed attitude that makes it all seem so easy.  Andrew is a critical asset to all four programs he supports and no program could operate as smoothly as it does without him.

In addition to providing administrative support, Andrew is an Outreach Specialist for the teen leadership component of Hand Up.  He has been called “the Teen Whisperer” and it has been announced that it is “the Year of the Hoffman”.  Andrew has built rapport with each teen on the Student Executive Committee and is able to connect with and empower them to successfully host food drives, hold fundraisers, and lead volunteers.”

Andrew does so much for so many programs and is such an intricate part of JFS, he truly deserves this recognition. Congratulations Andrew!

I just got two exciting pieces of news from Shelly Hahne, Hand Up Youth Food Pantry Coordinator. See below:

Rock Out for Hunger
On Saturday, May 22, 150 young professionals and high school students came together for the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry’s annual awareness raising and fundraising event: Rock Out for Hunger. The event raised $9000 and 150 pounds of food to support the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry!

It was such a great opportunity to see so many people gathered together with an interest in helping hunger. Those in attendance at the event are the same people we see volunteering at distribution sites, hosting annual food drives, and donating financially to the pantry. The $9000 raised at this event means that close to 1,000 people will be able to receive supplemental food from Hand Up. With more than 400,000 hungry people in San Diego County, we really appreciate all of our sponsors, underwriters and attendees who are helping us in our mission to alleviate hunger in San Diego!

Hunger Action Day

Hand Up Teens at Assembly Hearing

Thanks to a generous grant from the Tuttleman Family Foundation, on Wednesday, May 19, eight teenagers from the Hand Up Student Executive Committee traveled to Sacramento, along with more than 150 community leaders and hunger advocates from across the state, for Hunger Action Day. During the trip the teens were followed by a documentary film crew from the award winning Carlsbad High School TV program, who are making a documentary about hunger in San Diego called One in Seven.

Student leaders Estee Einhorn, Sara Linssen, Tammy Rubin, and Emma Tuttleman testified at an Assembly Human Services Committee hearing on behalf of the military families we serve each month. Committee Chair Jim Beall met with the students afterwards and had an earnest discussion with them about addressing food insecurity in California. During the hearing Assemblymember Lori Saldana, who met with the teens at the Turk

Hand Up Teens in Front of Capital Building

Family Center in April, spoke about the respect she has for the work of the Hand Up teen leaders, and how impressed she is with the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry’s military food distributions.

In the afternoon the teens met with five legislators and their staffers about their specific legislative recommendations for alleviating hunger. This was a great experience for the students involved, and is an experience we hope to provide in the coming years.

Had a great meeting with Bud and Esther Fischer about a week ago. Both feel very strongly that we should be helping those most in need and the idea of reaching out to low-income military families struck a chord with them. They’ve been donors for several years now, helping us with our Hand Up Youth Food Pantry efforts at Camp Pendleton and Murphy Canyon Military Housing.

During our meeting I was telling them that we’re getting a lot more food donated on pallets, and we have no way of lifting them. I asked if they would help us purchase a used forklift, and without a blink, Esther said: “I’ll buy it for you!” And so, we now have the Esther Fischer Forklift. I think we’re starting a new trend in naming opportunities for donors!

Read on to find out what Shelly Hahne, the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry Coordinator thinks of the donation:

“Prior to this donation, my staff would always hand unload pallets full of food donations. It took forever. Now, with the forklift, one Hand Up staff member is able to unload up to a 1,500 pounds of food in less than 8 minutes! It’s such a huge timesaver and energy saver that is making our food pantry much more efficient.”

The need for supplemental food among military families is ever-growing. Hand Up relies on the generosity of community donors, such as Bud and Esther Fischer, to help meet the need. The food pantry needs everything from food, to canvas bags, to wishlist items like a Commercial Refrigerator/Freezer and refrigerated truck. If you would like to help make ends meet for these military families or spend some time volunteering, please contact us at handup@jfssd.org.

More than a dozen employees from NBC 7 News came into our Hand Up Youth Food Pantry last week to volunteer. It was so neat watching them stack, lift, sort, and create food bags for San Diego’s hungry. With so many people struggling these days, it’s such a great thing to see people come together to make a difference during these tough times.

The employees held a food drive at their office, donating nearly 800 pounds of food to Jewish Family Service. After the drive, they decided to experience the food pantry first hand. Employees including anchors Catherine Garcia and Marianne Kushi, worked tirelessly for a few hours, sorting the 800 pounds of food they had donated and creating 300 bags of food to hand out to clients.

Thank you NBC for all of your help! You truly made a difference.

Read the online article about their experience by clicking here>>

Watch the news clip of their volunteer time by clicking here>>

Find out how you can volunteer in the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry by clicking here>>

What a wonderful staff we have here at JFS! I just received this from our Human Resources Department:

Congratulations to Khalil Barkzai the December Employee of the Month! We would like to recognize and honor the commitment, hard work, and professionalism that Khalil Barkzai has brought to JFS over the last three years through the Refugee Resettlement Department and Hand Up Youth Food Pantry.

Khalil has been an essential part of the Refugee Resettlement Department’s growth and development. He is absolutely great at everything he does, and he does everything. When he is picking up donations he is efficient and professional. He puts a lot of care and effort when he is furnishing apartments for newly arriving refugees to make them feel warm and welcoming. He is the first to greet new refugee families when he picks them up at the airport with a huge smile on his face. Khalil has helped more than 20 refugee clients find jobs using his own personal contacts, and is continuously driving around the county giving rides to clients for different appointments and interviews.

Khalil also drives across the entire county for the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry to drop-off and pick-up food bins for food drives. Khalil has made friends with synagogue and school employees across the county with his charm and smile, and calls everyone “friend” to build relationships. When Khalil has a full truck he offers “free exercise” to anyone willing to help; he reminds us that we pay hundreds of dollars in gym memberships each year, when we can just exercise at work for free.

Khalil is also in charge of making sure food bag deliveries are made on time to 8 of Hand Up’s distribution locations across the county. He is an intricate part of making sure the food pantry is stocked and able to serve those who are hungry.

We would like to thank Khalil for his dedication, hard work and commitment for his years of service at JFS. Congratulations Khalil!

This just in from Shelly Hahne, Coordinator of the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry:

With the economic downturn, our Hand Up Youth Food Pantry is serving more clients than ever before. The number of clients receiving supplementary food bags has increased by 27% in the last 3 months alone—101% from this same time last year. Our food pantry now serves more than 1,400 clients  each month at 12 different locations throughout the county.

If you want to learn how to lose weight and keep it off, find a meeting at www.weightwatchers.com.

If your business is interested in helping the San Diego community by hosting a food drive, please contact the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry Coordinator, Shelly Hahne, at 858.637.3088 or handup@jfssd.org.

I just received this update from Shelly Hahne, our Hand Up Youth Food Pantry Coordinator:

Yesterday an elephant came to the food pantry. Well, not literally an elephant, but the weight equivalent of an elephant. More than 5 tons (10,000 pounds) of food were donated from 9 area synagogues after the High Holy Days–that’s enough weight to equal an elephant, or two hippos! Today we had even more food come in. Our shelves are overflowing–such a great thing during this time of need! The food will be distributed by our Hand Up Youth Food Pantry at 12 locations throughout the County, including Camp Pendleton and Murphy Canyon Military Housing.

Our food pantry serves more than 1,300 hungry people and distributes more than 13,000 pounds of food and hygiene products each month. We’re always in need of people to help out by donating money, hosting food drives, and volunteering in the pantry and at distributions. Especially this week–we need volunteers to help organize the food that came in from the High Holy Days. If you want to get involved email handup@jfssd.org or call 858-637-3088. Help us move that elephant and get food to people in need!