Everyone needs help sometimes. But asking for it can be one of the hardest things to do, especially when there are often so many barriers that keep people from receiving the help they need.
That’s why Jewish Family Services (JFS) exists. “We know that life is beautiful, but it’s also very challenging from day to day,” says Maggie Haghirian, Chief Program Officer at JFS. “We want to help people when they face those challenges. We want to either give them the help they need, or help them find someone else who can.”
With two locations—one in Brookside and another inside the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas—JFS is able to provide services to Jackson County kids and families and to many others across the Kansas City metro.
Practical Help for Families Who Need It
JFS provides a broad range of services to kids and families in need. “We literally serve families from birth to death,” Maggie says. “We offer IVF, IUI, and adoption support to help growing families. We assist with burial for our Jewish clients. And we offer lots of services in between.”
Services offered at JFS include:
- Therapy services to support mental health needs (currently taking new clients—sliding fee scale available)
- Food pantries—including pet food and hygiene products—in both Missouri and Kansas
- Spiritual care, led by a rabbi and a team of volunteers
- Student support within local schools
- Age-in-place support for clients age 60 and above
And that’s just the beginning. “We want people to come to us and get something that’s truly beneficial for their lives,” Maggie says. “We don’t want to just send them off somewhere else, have them fill out more paperwork, and then just wait. We want to help them.”
At times, this can include helping clients find the support they need, even if that support is best found elsewhere. “If you have questions at different stages of life—what benefits you need, what services you’re eligible for, or other things—we’re here for that,” Maggie says. “There are so many different systems to understand. Having someone walk with you and help you through the process can be a huge part of getting to the next step.”
For the Jewish Community and Beyond
At its beginning, Jewish Family Services was created to serve those in the community who were Jewish, because many of those people didn’t have another place to go. As years went by, they noticed just how many other people in the community needed help, too. They expanded their services to serve both Jewish and non-Jewish members of the community—to expand the care they offer as far as possible.
Some services offered for JFS are still specifically geared toward the Jewish community. A rabbi and team of volunteers offer services to Jewish clients during hard times, including life transitions, hospital visits, and elder care. They also invite their clients to celebrate traditional Jewish holidays with them.
Their broader range of services, though, are available to anyone in the community. In fact, more than half of the over 10,000 people they serve each year are not Jewish. “We are Jewish Family Services, but we don’t just serve the Jewish community,” Maggie says. “I appreciate the opportunity to serve the Jewish community with certain programs, and then to serve everyone in the community with others.”
Family Support in Jackson County
Jewish Family Service’s mission boils down simply to one word: connection.
“There’s just so much need for help,” Maggie says. “And there will never be enough social service agencies to take care of all the needs that are out there. And it’s showing up even more now—we have people coming to us who have never had to ask for this kind of help before. We’re seeing more than ever just how much connection matters—helping connect people with the support they need, the supplies they need, or the person they need.”
With people in Jackson County and beyond feeling the impact of rising prices for so many things, Jewish Family Services has been able to stand in the gap for many who have needed help. And support from partners like the Children’s Services Fund is a big part of the reason why.
“Support from the CSF means that we get to help more people,” Maggie says. “It provides us the opportunity for more access for individuals who wouldn’t be able to seek services otherwise. It also helps us be better in the services we provide, to improve our programming, and to stay up-to-date on evidence-based therapy approaches.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing a hard time, Jewish Family Services can help. Reach out to them today to see how they can support you in whatever you’re going through.
And if you’d like to support the work that JFS is doing in the Jackson County community and beyond, you can make a donation or support in other ways. “Support doesn’t have to be financial,” Maggie says. “It could be telling someone you know about our services, volunteering somewhere to give back, putting on a food drive to support our food pantry, or just reaching to someone who’s a part of our work to say ‘thank you.’”
On that note, all of us at the Children’s Services Fund would like to say a big “thank you” to Jewish Family Services—for your partnership, and for everything you do to support kids and families in Jackson County.
