An ambitious group of six volunteers, spearheaded by Sarah Fuller, joined together over a year ago, and took it upon themselves to collect pots and pans, flatware, and other kitchen necessities to outfit apartments for newly arriving refugees. The group attends tag sales, seeks out free give away items, and conducts weekly visits to local thrift shops to source the many items needed to create a functional kitchen. They then store the items in Ellen Tobiassen’s garage and meet to box up items to deliver to JFS. The group has become known at JFS as the “Kitchen Kit Crew,” and we’ve come to depend on their generous and timely donations. We are so grateful for their ingenious and enterprising efforts on behalf of JFS!

If you or someone you know is interested in VOLUNTEERING with JFS, we URGENTLY need help sorting donated items in our storage space at our Springfield office. We also need help setting up apartments for newly arriving New Americans. Click here to learn about our volunteer opportunities, and to fill out a volunteer application.

On October 4th we welcomed two representatives, Eric Rosa and Anthony Almodavar, from the Springfield Fire Department (SFD) to present a class on fire safety to a group of Arabic speaking clients from Syria and South Sudan. Participants had the opportunity to share about their previous experiences with fire safety and fire fighters in their home countries and learn about the role of the fire department in their new community.

The SFD representatives taught clients all about the “dos” and “don’ts” of fire safety, including how to prevent cooking and electrical fires, and how to respond in the event of a fire. Participants were able to interact with props, including burnt cookware, and one client, Mahamatnour Mahamat (pictured here) had the chance to try on a firefighter uniform, and even went head-to-head in a push-up competition with firefighter Eric Rosa!

We are looking forward to offering and expanding this training to other communities in the future. Thank you to the Springfield Fire Department, especially Eric Rosa and Anthony Almodavar, for their time and assistance in helping to facilitate this event.

On Saturday, Oct. 14th, JFS staff participated in Soccer Without Borders‘ (SWB) Small Goals Big Change fundraising soccer tournament in Boston. The theme of the tournament was welcoming the Afghan Women’s National Team in Boston. The Afghan Women’s National Team had their own team participating and won the tournament! The JFS team had a great time spending the day with staff, volunteers, and other community members involved with SWB, and playing lots of soccer!

Funds raised at the tournament support providing newcomer, refugee, asylee, and immigrant youth in East Boston, Chelsea, Everett, Somerville and Springfield with access to SWB programming. SWB creates opportunities for youth to play soccer, build community, practice English, and develop life skills.

Did you know that our JFS Staff has doubled in size? Our staff now numbers over 90, and desk space has been a significant challenge since we returned to the office post-pandemic. Working with Conklin Furniture, we were able to furnish our offices with work space for 20 employees. We love our new “desk farm”!

We also love our shinny new box truck! Our new truck will allow us to pick up donations and distribute them to our current clients in a more timely manner, and to set up apartments for newly arriving refugees. Until now, we’ve been dependent on the availability of U-Haul truck rentals. Our new truck will allow us to better support the needs of our clients, and will also add a much needed capacity for our Reception and Placement team for many years to come!

If you have household items to donate to JFS, please visit the Donate Goods page on our website at https://www.jfswm.org/donate-goods/. There you’ll find a form to fill out and we will contact you as soon as possible to facilitate your donation.