March 2017 | Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh

Sunday brings the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Volunteer Center’s Good Deeds Day. Good Deeds Day was started by the Arison family of Israel to encourage individuals to engage in volunteerism on a single day. To give you a sense of its scope and reach, I share with you a quote from the Good Deeds Day…

Svetlana Geguzina is a pillar in the legal department at Jewish Family and Children Services (JF&CS). No one takes on as much work assisting refugees to apply for legal permanent residency and has the positive results as she does. Svetlana is an Accredited Representative and a former Refugee from the Soviet Union, providing a unique…

What is collaboration? The dictionary defines it as: “the action of working with someone to produce or create something”. That seems pretty simple to define, yet difficult to pull off successfully. Collaboration like any relationship takes real work. It means sometimes thinking about the other(s) with whom you are collaborating and what their needs may…

This week we have another Jewish Association on Aging’s Mollie’s Meals volunteer: Yuriy Bobnov. He’s a senior who immigrated to the US in the 1990’s and delivers about a dozen meals weekly to our “former Russian” population. Bobnov enjoys the small talk and smiling faces when he makes his deliveries. “He is one of our…

Alla Puchinsky arrived in the U.S. 20 years ago as a refugee from the former Soviet Union. She was greeted and welcomed by Jewish Family and Children Services (JF&CS) and volunteers from the Jewish community — some of whom she is friends with until this day. In 2000, Alla brought her skills and high level…

Our Talmud proclaims that “When the month of Adar begins, we increase our joy”. Well, we are now into the month of Adar and one of our great, joyful Jewish holidays, Purim, begins on Saturday night. I encourage everyone to find a place to hear the Purim story by listening to the reading of the…

Elinor began delivering Mollie’s Meals when a friend asked her to help. They shared driving and deliveries until unfortunately, the other woman became too ill. That didn’t deter Elinor, herself a senior, who has been delivering once a week (sometimes twice!) for the last four years, with and without the help of her husband. A…

Panel discussion on March 29 will feature insights of elected officials WHO/WHAT The Men’s Philanthropy Division of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh presents “Balancing Jewish Faith With Political Life” as the next event in its Conversations That Count engagement program, which is open to registered guests. Facilitated by Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff, and joined…

The Parkway Jewish Center of Monroeville and the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Pittsburgh are pleased to acknowledge the creation of the Susan R. Klein Fund for Israel Scholarships. The fund’s creation is thanks to the pre-existing scholarship distributed by Larry Klein, a former member of the Parkway Jewish Center of Monroeville, to honor his…

Panel discussion on March 29 will feature insights of elected officials WHO/WHAT The Men’s Philanthropy Division of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh presents “Balancing Jewish Faith With Political Life” as the next event in its Conversations That Count engagement program, which is open to registered guests. Facilitated by Jewish Community Foundation Scholar Rabbi Danny Schiff, and joined…