Andrew Guckes | Staff Writer
On Sept. 19, Jewish Family Service of Atlantic & Cape May Counties held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new office at the Cape May Court House, which allowed the organization to increase its work in Southern New Jersey.
The office is 1,600 square feet and has space for eight staff members to work. This includes case managers, therapists, an administrator, and an associate director. The space includes a private office, two shared offices, two counseling rooms, a pantry, and a lobby.
The new space at the Cape May Court House, located on One Enterprise Drive, is able to accommodate various services and programs offered by JFS, which includes supportive housing, outpatient counseling, vocational services, and their newest initiative, rural and suburban outreach and transportation.
“The location for the new JFS office was selected based on its proximity to our much smaller former office, ensuring clients remained familiar with the area,” said Andrea Steinberg, CEO of JFS of Atlantic & Cape May Counties. “With the increasing demand for therapy and counseling sessions, JFS needed to have a bigger presence in the county and Cape May Court House served as a convenient location for clients to access from Wildwood, Stone Harbor, Cape May, and other shore points located on transportation lines.”
Attendees at the ribbon-cutting included Middle Township Mayor Christopher Leusner, Congressman Jeff Van Drew, District Director Christopher Chin, JFS Board President Matthew Simpson, JFS Chief Executive Officer Andrea Steinberg, JFS Chief Impact Officer Laura Rodgers, JFS Senior Director of Outpatient Counseling Naomi Jones, Ph.D., and Cape May County Commissioners Bobby Barr, Andrew Bulakowski and Melanie Collette.
Jewish Family Service of Atlantic & Cape May Counties works to assist families by improving the health of children, adults and seniors, which they believe in turn creates strong communities. The organization offers dozens of different areas of programming that are offered to anyone regardless of religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, or background. These areas include counseling, mental health services, homeless assistance, vocational services, and adult and elderly activities.
“JFS is committed to offering an array of programs and services to help people throughout the Atlantic and Cape May communities. … We understand that the [current] environment, especially since the pandemic through today, has escalated the need for assistance with counseling, housing, food, and more,” Steinberg said in an email interview.
The organization assists more than 15,000 individuals across Atlantic and Cape May counties each year with the aforementioned programing and services, as well as amenities like the JFS food pantry.
Their work is largely inspired by the Jewish value of tikkun olam, or healing the world.
JFS of Atlantic & Cape May Counties has shaped a lot of its programming around that value. Highlights of its programming schedule include high holidays community collections, an annual school supplies donation program, a turkey drive around Thanksgiving, and other community programs around Jewish holidays like Passover and Chanukah.
In addition to the hard work of the staff members that are housed at the new office, Jewish Family Service relies on the strength of its volunteer base. This includes people volunteering from religious schools, day schools, girl and boy scout troops, national honor society chapters, families, bar and bat mitzvahs, and more.
“The ribbon-cutting enabled us to share how JFS already impacts the Cape May County area and how we’ll be able to enhance our presence and meet even more needs in this part of the region. We were extremely pleased with the number of dignitaries, businesses, other organizations, and the public who shared in this special day,” Steinberg said.
