Honoring JFS’s Family of Volunteers for Volunteer Appreciation Month

April is Volunteer Appreciation Month and Jewish Family Service LA wants to shine a light on our family of volunteers for all that they do to ensure our vital services reach everyone in our community who needs them. Through the hardest of times, JFS volunteers have found ways to continue their important work and have helped so many people connect to a community of support and hope when it was needed most.

Volunteers are essential to our work. Jewish Family Service LA relies on approximately 400 registered volunteers and the nearly 1,000 monthly volunteer hours they provide to assist with clients throughout our many programs.

“JFS simply could not do all the great work we do and meet the needs of the community without our volunteers,” said JFS Director of Volunteers & Training, Joyce M. Williams. “I rely on them not only for the time spent on their volunteer shifts, which is incredibly valuable on its own, but also as a wonderful and trustworthy resource for new volunteers when they refer friends, family, and neighbors.”

JFS volunteers’ share a wide range of talents and skills that help us better connect with clients. Volunteers are multilingual, speaking Farsi, Russian, and Spanish; they teach knitting classes to seniors, they bake cookies for the children in our shelters, and the list goes on.

“Our volunteers go above and beyond in their responsibilities and are so committed and caring about our participants and clients,” shared Joyce.

Over the last year, volunteers have stepped up to help JFS create new opportunities, including JFS SOVA’s home grocery delivery program and new pantry pop-ups in West Hollywood, Canoga Park and Van Nuys; and for the JFS Senior Nutrition Services’ Culver City grab and go meal site. In cooperation with community partners such as the LA Regional Food Bank and the UCLA Center for Community Engagement, JFS is recruiting more volunteers to help serve our ever-growing clientele.

The success of our important work depends on the heartfelt commitments of our family of volunteers, and we are forever grateful to them.

If you would like to become a part of our JFS Volunteer Family, please visit jfsla.org/volunteer or contact Joyce M. Williams, JFS Director of Volunteers & Training, at jmwilliams@jfsla.org