As we begin our year-end fundraising push, Charity Navigator—America’s largest independent charity evaluator—has launched their 2.0 rating system that measures each nonprofit’s Financial Health and Accountability & Transparency. Profile pages have a new appearance and more information, but one thing that remains the same: our 4-star rating (Read our profile). A new graph on the overall page clearly illustrates that our 4-star rating is almost a perfect score. This is an accomplishment that we are very proud of. We are in special company—only 8% of nonprofits reviewed have received a 4-star rating for four consecutive years.

Our consistency is even more impressive when you consider that as a result of the new scoring system:

• Half of the nearly 5,500 charities rated by Charity Navigator received new star ratings
• 19% of the charities’ star ratings decreased, including such marquee names as Harvard University, NYU, Princeton, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• With the bar set higher, the total number of 4-star charities decreased by 20%

Take a look at our profile and feel proud and confident in your support. Our Charity Navigator rating is one piece of the story—I also invite you to look at our Friends of the Family Campaign so you can see the impact of Jewish Family Service and your support. Thanks to the generosity of the community, JFS makes sure no one is alone when they’re in crisis. Solving problems, saving lives, restoring hope—thanks to you.

L’Shanah Tovah!

It’s getting colder and Pumpkin Spice lattes are back at Starbuck’s—fall is definitely around the corner. I figured now is a good time to remind you of our annual United Run for the Hungry 5K/10K on Thanksgiving morning. This event plays an important role in providing food for thousands of hungry families in our community. And it is a great, meaningful way to kick-off the holiday.

When you think of San Diego’s hungry, you probably think of those living on the streets or in shelters. But did you ever consider that your neighbor may be hungry? San Diego’s hungry are all around us. The vast majority are in households with an employed adult. Many are children and senior citizens living on fixed incomes below poverty level.

United Run for the Hungry benefits the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank and our very own Foodmobile, which delivers hot, kosher meals to homebound older adults and younger homebound disabled adults.

With 3,900 participants last year, United Run for the Hungry continues to grow because of its great mix of ingredients: an awesome course starting at Petco Park and traveling through the Gaslamp and East Village, fun entertainment, tasty refreshments, and the cause. Be a part of the action on Thanksgiving and show San Diego’s hungry you care. Round up your family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and classmates and register as a team. Many come in costume. It is a fun and festive event! Teams of 20 or more who turn in their entries by Friday, October 28 will have their team name printed on the back of their event shirts. Have a four-legged friend who loves to run? Dogs are welcome too!

For more information, visit www.unitedrunforthehungry.org or register now by clicking here.

2010 United Run for the Hungry participants

I have great news to share! Our On the Go program, which provides transportation solutions for older adults, set a goal of recruiting 75 volunteer drivers between January 1-September 1, 2011. Not only did we reach our goal—we exceeded it with 79 new volunteer drivers! These new volunteers will provide individual rides through the Rides & Smiles® component of On the Go.

Reaching this type of goal takes some serious team work. The JFS marketing, volunteers services, and On the Go Rides & Smiles® folks clearly did a great job. But what’s really amazing is that the majority of our new volunteers were recruited by current volunteers. They know that their experience is making a difference in the lives of others and are appreciated by JFS. The top 5 current volunteer recruiters are: Gayle Costanzo, Glen Farber, Beverlee Greene, Gloria Solstad, and James Durbin. These volunteers enjoy their experience with JFS so much they even recruited their spouses and family. This, to us, is an exceptionally wonderful compliment. As we say in our marketing material, “Volunteers are the heart of JFS.”

JFS was visited by a group of high school students from the Philanthropy Leadership in Training program. For the third year in a row, this group, organized by the Jewish Community Foundation (JCF) in conjunction with the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center (JCC), stopped by JFS as part of a week-long camp devoted to fostering philanthropy. According to Gail Littman, VP of JCF’s Endowments and Communications, “They are trying to learn how to give strategically and wisely. They visit different sites and ask questions trying to decide which charity or charities they will give to at the end of the week.” The students took a tour of our Turk Family Center and learned about the different programs at JFS, such as the Hand Up Youth Food Pantry, and how these programs impact the community. It’s good to see the next generation of socially responsible leaders step up.

Yesterday, long-time Care Manager, Teri Wilner, retired after eight years of dedicated service to JFS’s Serving Older Holocaust Survivors (SOS) program.  According to Teri, “This was not just a job. It was my love, passion, and caring. I came in thinking I would be educating these Survivors about life and coping, but they ended teaching me. It was time to retire, but so hard to give up.”

Teri represents the committed and truly compassionate Care Managers working at JFS every day. They touch so many lives, not only providing clients with companionship and the essentials to survive, but doing it in such a way as to preserve their dignity. On behalf of everyone at JFS, thank you Teri for your years of care and service to our community.

Teri Wilner (center) celebrates her retirement with attendees of the Serving Older Holocaust Survivors (SOS) Copley Café.

Many families face tough financial choices when making higher education decisions for their children. Dr. Robert Rubenstein saw the struggle of parents and wanted to help. He came to us with a proposal to aid those San Diego Jewish families struggling to afford higher education. Together, we created the Rubenstein Family Scholarship. Those of you attending last year’s Gala saw Dr. Rubenstein’s passion in helping these Jewish students with the promise that they actively give back to the community through service.

Since its start in 2009, the Rubenstein Family Scholarship Program has awarded 35 scholarships totaling almost $65,000 to deserving high school graduates and college students. Dr. Rubenstein’s generous donations have helped students attend SDSU, UCLA, UC-Berkeley, Berklee College of Music, University of Oregon, University of Arizona, American Jewish University, Wesleyan University, Azusa Pacific University, Palamar College, Chapman University, and Santa Barbara City College.

As we race through summer, I want to make sure everyone is aware of this great program. Jewish Family Service is now accepting college and vocational school scholarship applications for the 2012 Spring Semester/3rd & 4th Quarters. Rubenstein Family Scholarships, which range up to $2,500, help with tuition, books, and school supplies. Find out more about the Rubenstein Family Scholarship program at www.jfssd.org/scholarship.

Let me tell you about a remarkable young man, Daniel Saloner. Daniel just celebrated his Bar Mitzvah, and his mitzvah project centered around helping Holocaust Survivors by volunteering at JFS’s Serving Older Holocaust Survivors (SOS) program.  Impacted by the experience, Daniel, who attends San Diego Jewish Academy, sold wrist bands of his favorite soccer teams to family, classmates, and friends to raise money for SOS. He raised $1,000 from these efforts and then matched it with another $1,000 from Bar Mitzvah gifts.

Daniel wants to continue working with Holocaust Survivors. His generosity with his time and financial contributions are truly remarkable. They serve as a wonderful illustration that we can all do a little more to help others in need when we personalize a cause. Along these lines, I’d like to introduce our Personal Campaign page. It allows us to celebrate personal events like Bar Mitzvahs or honor loved ones and raise money toward the community we care about. Read more at www.jfssd.org/personal. As we learn from Daniel, we all share a role in Tikkun Olam.

We had our annual meeting last week to honor our board of directors, volunteers, and staff, and what a great turnout it was! The awards ceremony featured a stellar, all-female cast:

• Board member Cathy Babin Weil was honored with the Charles Zibbell Board Leadership Award for her tireless work in volunteer engagement at JFS.
• Hand Up Youth Food Pantry Supervisor Shelly Hahne took home the Henrietta Rubenstein Staff Development Award. She has been instrumental in growing our food pantry and providing more than 165,300 pounds of food to San Diego’s hungry this past year.
• Our Jack Stern Volunteer Recognition Award went to three amazing ladies whose dedication to JFS is truly inspiring: Radmila Fulton with the JFS Economic Crisis Response Program, Myrna Reese from our On the Go transportation program for older adults, and Eleonore Lavender with Guiding Adolescent Parents. You can read more about their volunteer work by clicking here.

L to R: Ele Lavender, Lorraine Stern, Myrna Reese & Radmila Fulton

As Board President Steve Levine is stepping down this year, we welcomed Felicia Mandelbaum as our incoming President for 2011-2012. Felicia spoke briefly about her goals for the agency and one comment really stood out to me. Felicia said “We must always be cognizant that we are a people of mitzvah – we need to perform acts of “human kindness” to our people and to the community at large.”  I’m always amazed at the time and effort that our Board Presidents put into the job.  Can’t imagine what our agency would be without them.

Immediate Past President Steve Levine and Current Board President Felicia Mandelbaum

On January 26, the Mental Health Committee of Jewish Family Service hosted a free panel discussion, “Children and Mental Health,” for parents and caregivers. Jewish Family Service takes great pride in our role of educating the community in parenting issues. This event also coincided with the launching of our Child Assessment Services program – more to come on this a little later.

Committee Co-Chair Marcia Hazan gives an insightful recap:

2011 "Children and Mental Health" Panel Discussion

Focusing on autism and early childhood mental health issues, the event presented  to professionals (teachers, social workers, and occupational therapists) and parents the latest in cutting-edge research regarding the causes and treatment of autism spectrum disorders. It was really exciting to hear about promising new theories and treatment modalities, some of which were so new that our group was among the first to hear them formally presented.

Moderated by David Feifel, M.D., Ph.D., the panel included:

• Eric Courchesne, Ph.D. and Karen Pierce, Ph.D., from the UCSD Autism Center. Drs. Courchesne and Pierce discussed the causes and early detection of abnormal brain and behavior in autism.
• Bonny J. Forrest, J.D., Ph.D., our very own Chief Operating Officer at Jewish Family Service. Dr. Forrest spoke about early social interaction and the impact on brain development in young children.
• Jeffrey Rowe, M.D., from the Children’s Mental Health Services of the Behavioral Health Division of San Diego’s Health and Human Services Administration. Dr. Rowe elaborated on the diagnosis and treatment of early childhood mental health issues.

Using audience questions as a launching point, the doctors revealed additional insights in a stimulating and collegial give and take. I especially appreciated the way such complex material was presented with easy to understand visuals and analogies that even those of us who were new to these issues could easily understand. Click here to download all of the presentations from the event.

Founded by Linda Janon, the Mental Health Committee of Jewish Family Service of San Diego provides resources and services for coping and living with mental illness and seeks to eliminate the stigma by increasing community awareness. For more information visit www.jfssd.org/mentalhealth.

I bundled up and braved a chilly Thanksgiving morning to check out our 9th Annual Run for the Hungry 5K and 10K, which benefits the San Diego Food Bank and Foodmobile, a home-delivered meal program of JFS. Despite the colder weather, we had 3,840 runners and walkers participate, including a few four-legged friends! Several groups came dressed in costume, including a lively bunch of Indians and turkeys (see below). A huge thank you to all of our sponsors, volunteers, and participants, as well as the merchants and residents of downtown San Diego. This year’s event had a great turnout and we couldn’t have asked for a better way to start Thanksgiving weekend!

Click here to see the rest of our Run for the Hungry photos.

Thank You to our 2010 Run for the Hungry sponsors: