JFS has kept up with rising requests for food aid thanks to extra help, offered, for example, by these Bruriah High School for Girls students, who collected items for the JFS food pantry in August.
Photo by Ruth Bilenker
September 25, 2008
As the ripple effects of the Wall Street meltdown begin to hit home, community leaders are readying themselves to deal with different aspects of its consequences — helping those who lose their jobs or their savings, striving to keep up the flow of the donations that fuel their programs, and dealing with general anxiety about the future.
A nervous mood has taken over after a month in which Merrill Lynch was sold in a fire sale, Lehman Brothers collapsed, the federal government took over insurance giant AIG, and the administration proposed a $700 billion Wall Street bailout.
Rabbi George Nudell of Congregation Beth Israel in Scotch Plains said he’s still adjusting to the surprise that giant financial firms that had seemed so rock solid have crumbled so quickly.
Nevertheless, two months ago, when he began preparing his sermons for the High Holy Days, he was already weaving the Torah’s ancient teachings into his message to address the current fears about escalating economic stress.
Rabbi George Nudell said his High Holy Days sermons will address “what you hold onto when life is insecure.”
“You would have to have been blind not to see what was happening, with people losing their jobs and prices rising,” Nudell said. “This is a very stable community, and a year ago you would see very few houses on the market. Now, the signs are up everywhere, and every time you look, there are more.”
While he focuses his sermons on archetypal themes, the current news always provides a subtext. This year, he said, what he will be addressing is “in the context of what you hold onto when life is insecure.”
Even in times of hardship, people in a community like his have more than many others, he said. With regard to Yom Kippur, he will tackle the notion that what God seeks is “not just that people fast and be contrite, but that they feed the poor and house the homeless.”
Clearly this year, that has already become more important than ever. “On Yom Kippur, when people come for Kol Nidrei, I’m asking them to bring a can of food for the JFS food pantry,” he said. “That will be their entry ticket.”
Tom Beck, the executive director of Jewish Family Service of Central New Jersey, which runs the kosher food pantry for the region, said the community has already risen to the challenge this year. No one asking for emergency food parcels has been turned away, despite record numbers seeking help.
For the past year, JFS has seen escalating levels of calls for financial help and food aid. Even before the crisis on Wall Street, food pantries were dealing with blowback from employers who have cut back to deal with rising costs and people no longer able to make ends meet.
Jewish Family Service executive director Tom Beck says record numbers of people are requesting emergency aid.
“It’s too early to tell what impact the Wall Street troubles will have on our clients,” Beck said, “but as the economy unravels, with layoffs and so on, people’s lives also become more disorganized. In addition to needing help with rent and food, more and more people need counseling.”
In addition to the increasing calls for emergency assistance, he said, the agency is anticipating another shift: “As people have a harder time covering their own costs, the ones who have been helping their parents might find that they can’t do it any more,” he said. “We’re expecting to see more elderly people needing our services.”
The agency is currently planning its December gala — its major fund-raiser of the year — and Beck said he is hoping that supporters not only maintain their levels of giving but perhaps increase them. “I’m hopeful that they will remember the agency’s history of helping and realize how important it is now,” he said.
Stanley Stone, executive vice president of the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey, said the organization has already held two special meetings to consider how its investments are positioned, and whether they are protected as well as possible.
“It’s too early to know what impact the Wall Street crisis is going to have in our community. As of now, we haven’t heard of people losing their jobs because of it,” he said. “But for the past eight or nine months, we’ve seen that the higher cost of living is causing problems. This is what JFS has been dealing with, and that’s why we’ve been putting such an emphasis on support for it.”
For some people, the federation’s Free Loan Society has been a source of assistance — but only if they have jobs or other means to qualify for a loan. As yet there hasn’t been a rise — or a decrease — in the number of people turning to the society.
“If people can’t pay their rent, JFS is probably where they will turn for help,” said Stone.
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