Consider, for example, 

• Olga, a thirty-two year old woman from the former Soviet Union whose husband was killed in an automobile accident. Unemployed at the time, after having been laid off from her job as a waitress, Olga suddenly found herself with no income and a nine-year-old child to support. While she coped with her grief and the logistics of restructuring her life, FHBS shared responsibility with Jewish Family and Children's Service for two months? rent - $963 each.
  
• Temma spent 1944-45 in Auschwitz-Birkeneau. Seventy-six years old and in poor health, she lives with her husband, also a Holocaust survivor. Their combined monthly income is $1,200. Two adult sons help out with groceries and household chores, but do not have extra money to assist in paying for the multiple medications both parents need. About a year ago, Temma had a leg amputated, increasing health care expenses. FHBS paid $563 to cover three months of secondary health insurance premiums.
  
• Bernice was in chronic need of financial assistance from the Jewish community. A client of Jewish Family & Children's Service through the City Line Aging Support Program (CLASP), she was referred to FHBS on several occasions. With an annual income of $11,124, it was impossible for her to manage all her bills. In August of 2004, just before her 87th birthday, Bernice was diagnosed with liver cancer. She moved from hospitalization to rehab and was awaiting discharge to her twin sister's two-story house for hospice care when FHBS received the request for a stair glide. The only company that could assess the house and install equipment immediately charged $915, non-refundable, for a six- month period. FHBS did not hesitate to respond. Bernice died two months later, having spent her final days under the loving care of her sister, Lillian, who wrote: Had to thank you for your beautiful words of comfort and all the help provided by the you and FHBS, which made a difficult time a little easier.

Because FHBS is an all-volunteer organization, it has been easy to preserve its intrinsically Jewish response to poverty. And as resources have become more plentiful, board members, in turn, have given more time and energy to insure that moneys collected are distributed in accord with those values that make FHBS unique --- upholding the self-respect and dignity of the recipient and fulfilling the mitzvah of tzedakah, always in the spirit of gemilut hesed.

While tzedakah is a mitzvah that is not bound by time, and contributions are always welcome, FHBS creates two special donor opportunities during the year --- at the High Holiday season and again in anticipation of Purim. With the latter holiday only a month away, FHBS invites you to hop on the Queen Esther Express by considering a no-cal, lite, cholesterol-free alternative to traditional mishloach manot. For donations starting at $18, FHBS will send up to three cards in honor of your friends and family letting them know that you not only have fulfilled the commandment in a most modern way, but also extended your hand to a Jewish woman in need. For additional information about this project or the work of FHBS, please contact Eileen Sklaroff, President at tikkun36@verizon.net 

Past Networking Central Groups of the Month

In this section we highlight a new local group each month in order to encourage networking.

• August 2005: The Jewish Relief Agency
• September 2005: Shalom Center
• October 2005: Various groups helping Katrina Hurricane victims
• November 2005: CeasefirePA
• December 2005: GoodWorks.org
• January 2006: Jewish Genealogy