Jewish leader aims to better promote group

Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008 | 2:32 p.m.

Bernice Friedman said she doesn’t want the Jewish Family Services Agency to be a big, dark secret. The newly elected president of the board for the local social service agency said it’s time that the agency is better known in Las Vegas.

A self-proclaimed New Yorker, Friedman and her husband moved last year from the East Coast state known for having a strong Jewish community to Las Vegas, where she says the Jewish population is swelling.

“This is a growing area, there is a growing Jewish population here,” she said. “We heard great things about Las Vegas.”

When she moved into her Summerlin home last July and became an active member of Temple Beth Sholom, she became fast friends with the past president she recently succeeded, Mordecai Labovitz, and it wasn’t long before she was serving on the board as an officer.

The board selected Friedman as president in July.

“I’m really hoping that the community will continue to support us,” she said. “We do so many wonderful things for the entire community.”

The 30-year-old agency provides services for those seeking help in adoption services, runs a food pantry, helps with burial and bereavement services for Jews, offers counseling and psychotherapy services, provides Holocaust survivors assistance, helps answer questions of those needing social services assistance, offers scholarships and runs a job placement program.

Before she was president at the agency, Friedman, 65, spent most of her life serving in nonprofit organizations, including serving as chairwoman on the Bronx Division Board for the Jewish Home Lifecare, vice chairwoman of JBI International, chairwoman of Health and Human Services Affiliation Review Committee for UJA-Federation of New York and a member of The Educational Alliance.

More than 5,000 people call the Las Vegas agency a year seeking information on human and medical dilemmas and its food pantry provides food for more than 12,000 people every year.

Friedman said as president she will focus on the three C’s: communication, cultivation and collaboration.

“I want to get our name out there by communicating, to cultivate relationships with donors so they know they are appreciated and collaborate with organizations so we have a lot more leverage,” she said.

An upcoming collaboration includes the agency partnering with the UNLV Nevada Conservatory Theater to present the Broadway adaptation of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” which will premier in February.

The Holocaust Survivor program is among the most needed services offered.

“Outside of New York and the Miami area, Las Vegas has the third largest Holocaust survivor population,” Friedman said.

The agency serves many of the nearly 350 survivors in Las Vegas, many of whom are struggling financially, she said. The agency receives a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany to provide assistance in filing claims for reparations, counseling, assistance in obtaining social services, food and medical care and, in some circumstances, short-term cash assistance for basic necessities.

“When something terrible happens to you, your mind reverts to that horrible time you lived through,” Friedman said. “These people need our services for ongoing support groups.’’

In 2007, the agency provided more than $60,000 to local survivors. Many of the survivors underestimated the cost of living here because of the high rents and utility bills. In the last two years, more than 65 survivors received some type of rental, utility, medication or food assistance from the agency, totalling more than $40,000 in emergency assistance alone, according to the agency’s Web site.

The counseling and psychotherapy services available to all clients, through Jewish Family Services Agency Counseling Services, are for children, adolescents, adults, couples, families and groups and are offered at two locations: one on the east side of town at the agency’s main office and one in Summerlin. The counseling is not free, but most insurance plans are accepted at both sites. For those who do not have insurance or for those whose insurance doesn’t pay the entire bill, the agency offers the counseling at a discounted price using a sliding fee scale.

The food pantry, run by volunteers, is open Monday through Friday.

“The volunteers that volunteer for JFSA are the most dedicated group,” Friedman said. “Whether paid staff or volunteers, all who work here are very dedicated and take what they do seriously.”

For those interested in other volunteer opportunities, the agency has more programs for which it needs volunteers. The Shopper/Transportation program needs volunteers to drive around the elderly, the Friendly Visitor Program needs volunteers to visit those who may be experiencing loneliness and depression, the Bikur Cholin program needs volunteers to visit ill patients in hospitals and the Telephone Reassurance program needs volunteers to call homebound seniors.

“This is a large part of my life, I get a great deal of satisfaction from this,” Friedman said.

Other changes at the agency include naming a new executive director, Eric Goldstein. Goldstein has 16 years of experience in Jewish community programming and services in Las Vegas, New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Virginia. Since 2005, he’s been executive director of the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada. Goldstein was previously working as the temporary executive director at the agency as it did not have a permanent director.

Jenny Davis can be reached at 990-8921 or jenny.davis@hbcpub.com.