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Argentinian mom saved from the brink of destitution
Two years ago, Alita, 36, had hit rock bottom. She wanted to commit suicide so her oldest daughter, Fonda, then 4, could have "a better future."
Alita lives in appalling conditions in a Buenos Aires hotel room with Fonda and her 18-month-old twins, Klaudia and Felicia. They don't have a private bathroom. Alita must prepare meals in a makeshift communal kitchen. Her boys, 15 and 13, live with their father.
Things used to be better. Alita worked as a salesperson in a women's apparel shop and earned just enough money to support herself and Fonda. But when Argentina's economy collapsed and the shop closed, Alita couldn't find a new job. She became pregnant with the twins and grew very depressed.
Then, she came into contact with the Ariel Job Center and Baby Help Center, two programs operated by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), an overseas partner of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ. and its UJA campaign.
During her pregnancy, the job center enabled Alita to begin a micro-business at home, making candles and jewelry. Though she didn't earn much, the activity helped to rebuild her self-confidence. At the same time, JDC gave her a supermarket debit card, which enables her to buy food for herself and her three daughters.
To assist with the twins, the Baby Help program supplied Alita with food, diapers, vitamins, and hygienic supplies. A "godmother" provided through the Baby Help Center is mentoring Alita to raise her girls in a loving environment.
Last year, Fonda started kindergarten at a Jewish school on full scholarship. She began to socialize with other children. Alita was able to tend to the babies and do some work. Her mood and expectations improved. With the guidance of social workers, she has been in contact with her two sons.
Determined to get her life back on track, Alita attends every workshop at the Baby Help Center. Thanks to the center's support, the twins were able to have their simchat bat (baby naming) ceremony.
"I now understand what belonging to a community can mean," said Alita, tears flowing down her cheeks. "I see the difference it makes in my life."
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Friendship Circle embraces kids with special needs
Too often children with special needs are socially isolated.
Their parents may be overwhelmed in caring for them.
Many teens are caught up in their own world and have little awareness of those who are outside.
The Friendship Circle brings together children with special needs and teens for shared experiences that enrich both, while giving parents an essential respite.
Recently designated a beneficiary agency of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ, the Friendship Circle, a project of Rabbinical College of America – Lubavich, was established in response to requests from parents.
The Friendship Circle makes a big difference in the life of Doreen Moller, a single mother, and her two sons, Alec, 6, and Brandon, 8. Every other Sunday morning, Doreen brings Alec, who has autism, to the Children's Circle, one of the programs under the auspices of the Friendship Circle, which is based at the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in Livingston. While Alec enjoys professionally supervised activities with volunteers, Doreen is able to spend quality time with Brandon.
"Having a special needs child requires so much attention that often the family's other child or children get neglected and start to develop undesirable behavior," observed Doreen. "Our special time has reversed some of this and put us on a very good path."
Doreen is eager to have her sons to learn about Jewish life and culture. "All the various holiday programs that Friendship Circle runs allow me to bring my boys to a festive educational event, where the extra bonus is someone watches my son Alec, so I can relax a little. The volunteers are awesome. These programs have great food, magic shows, music, etc."
Alec also attends the summer camp program for one week and winter camp during Christmas week, when schools are closed.
As she explained what Friendship Circle means to her and her family, Doreen said, "Special children, particularly those with autism, crave structure. They really need to be kept busy. The parents of these children have a tremendous amount of stress and burnout which, if not carefully dealt with, can sometimes lead to physical problems. The FC understands this. They provide support and love to the families and the children. They make you feel like you are not alone, and for that I am truly grateful."
The Friendship Circle trains teenage volunteers who become friends and mentors to youngsters who have special needs. Through the Friends at Home program, a pair of teens visits a child weekly.
Upcoming holiday programs include a Rosh Hashana apple-picking event on Sunday, Oct. 2, and a Sukkot Family Fair on Sunday, Oct. 23. Additional offerings include Friends at Home visits, sports programs, birthday parties, programs for teens with special needs, and adult volunteer opportunities.
"We now have 215 families involved in the program and over 600 teenagers volunteering for us," said executive director Rabbi Zalman Grossbaum. "The Circle continues to grow by word of mouth and we add programs based on requests from the parents."
UJC MetroWest and its partner agencies offer a broad range of services to children and adults with special needs, including residential, vocational, social, educational, and recreational programs.
For more information on the Friendship Circle, visit www.fcnj.com, call 973/597-0618 or e-mail .
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Donor Spotlight: Gayle & Larry Wieseneck
Gayle and Larry Wieseneck met nearly 25 years ago at a United Synagogue Youth (USY) dance at Congregation Agudath Israel, Caldwell. Although Larry lived in New Milford, NJ, and Gayle in West Caldwell, their lives have intertwined ever since.
Today, the West Orange couple are among MetroWest's leaders, focusing especially on Agudath Israel and United Jewish Communities (UJC) of MetroWest NJ. Last spring, the synagogue honored them for "Inspiring Judaism's Youngest Generation" and for their commitment to home, synagogue, and the MetroWest Jewish community.
Gayle, together with Lisa Lisser, received the 2005 Julius and Bessie Cohn Young Leadership Award from United Jewish Communities (UJC) of MetroWest NJ.
Currently, Gayle serves on the UJC and Women's Department board of trustees and is co-chair of the Philanthropy 101 Outreach program. She also sits on the Partnership 2000 Committee for UJC MetroWest, is immediate past chair of the Young Leadership Division and remains a member of the Young Leadership Council. In addition, she serves on the executive committee and board of trustees of Agudath Israel and is a member of the board of Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union Counties.
Larry, managing director and co-head of global finance at Lehman Brothers, is a leader of the Lehman Brothers UJA campaign in New York. He served on UJC MetroWest's Young Leadership Council and was chairman of the UJC Young Couples Outreach Committee. Actively involved in Israel's economic activity, he financed many of its leading companies, such as Teva Pharmaceuticals and Comverse Technologies. He helped to launch the new master's program for Jewish educators at The University of Pennsylvania. Recently, he and Gayle endowed a scholarship for this program.
Gayle attributes their community commitment to the strong examples set by their parents and to their early involvement with USY. As high school students, Larry and Gayle both served as presidents of USY chapters. Larry was also a regional vice president for the Hagalil/Northern New Jersey Region.
Later, Gayle majored in economics at the University of Michigan and Larry in finance at the University of Pennsylvania. After graduation, they married and lived in New York City, where both studied part-time for their MBAs at New York University.
When they moved back to MetroWest, people they knew introduced them to a UJC leadership development program, which served as "a great transition" to participation in the community, observed Gayle.
Today, Gayle and Larry are striving to transmit the strong Jewish values they received from their parents to their two children, both students at Solomon Schechter. Jacob is in the fourth grade and Brahm in kindergarten.
"Our involvement in our synagogue and in the greater MetroWest community has greatly enhanced our lives, and we want our children to feel the same kind of wonderful connection to the Jewish people," said Gayle.
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METROmagic to star political duo, Miss Israel
James Carville and Mary Matalin, a husband-wife duo, will share their political expertise at METROmagic on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 6 p.m., at the Sheraton Parsippany. Miss Israel, Yelena Ralf, will also make a guest appearance during the exciting evening, which will benefit the 2006 United Jewish Appeal of MetroWest NJ campaign.
Carville, America's best-known political consultant, has had a long list of electoral successes. Among them were Bill Clinton, whom he guided to the presidency in 1992, and Ehud Barak, whom he led to victory in 1999 in his campaign to become prime minister of Israel.
Matalin formerly served as assistant to President George W. Bush and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney. She was the first White House official to hold that double title.
Both are authors, speakers, and television personalities. Together they wrote All's Fair: Love, War, and Running for President. Carville's later books, including Buck Up, Suck Up…and Come Back When You Foul Up and Had Enough? A Handbook for Fighting Back, also earned long-running places on The New York Times bestseller list. Matalin previously hosted CNN's critically acclaimed debate show, Crossfire. Her book, Letters to My Daughters, was named a Book-of-the-Month Club selection.
Crowned Miss Israel in 2005, Ralf was born in Ukraine. From 1997 to 2001, she was a counselor at The Jewish Agency summer camps in the former Soviet Union. In 2001, she made aliyah to Israel through the SELA ("students before parents") program, which brings men and women aged 17-21 to Israel. After extensive Hebrew education and university preparation at an absorption center, she enrolled in Tel Aviv University, where she is studying political science. (The UJA MetroWest campaign helps to fund many Jewish Agency programs, including summer camps, aliyah, and absorption.)
The METROmagic couvert of $125 per person includes a cocktail reception and buffet dinner. A minimum gift of $1,000 to the 2006 UJA MetroWest campaign is required. A special registration offer gives one free couvert to each person who increases their 2006 UJA campaign gift by $1,000 or more or gives a first-time gift of $1,000 or more and makes their reservation by Oct. 21.
To register, visit www.ujcnj.org/metromagic. Register online by Oct. 21 and receive a $25 discount off each couvert. For more information, please contact Heather Cohen at 973/929-3071 or .
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Help Sweeten the New Year for Displaced Settlers
Uprooted from their communities, they've lost their homes and jobs. Their traumatized children are in new schools, where everything seems different. Many of the youngsters are having trouble keeping up with their classmates.
After Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria, the displaced settlers—over 9,000 individuals from nearly 2,000 families – are struggling to begin over again.
It's not such a sweet New Year for families living in temporary housing, often in confused and disorganized new communities. While the Government of Israel is providing compensation, mainly for housing, there are many other urgent needs, especially for children's services. United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ has established a special Disengagement Fund to meet immediate needs, while the 2006 UJA Campaign will help with long-term needs. You can help via our secure browser – click here to make a contribution.
UJC MetroWest was the first Jewish federation in the United States to come to the aid of the evacuees. It immediately allocated $15,000 to establish a community center in the new town of Nitzan. The neighborhood, which was a watermelon field until the end of last May, was transformed into a new community of some 500 karavillot – larger size mobile home units. It is expected that they will be replaced with permanent housing in a year or two. Meanwhile, it is essential to create both a physical and social infrastructure.
Numerous displaced families are also living in the region of Shaar Hanegev, where UJC MetroWest is partnered with Kibbutz Erez. The resources of local schools are strained as they strive to absorb hundreds of new students who have been traumatized by their relocation.
UJC MetroWest is focusing on the needs of the communities of Nitzan and Shaar Hanegev, where it can have an immediate and important impact. It aims especially at assisting evacuated children to make a successful readjustment by providing social opportunities, educational enrichment, and support groups.
"It is very important that the parents send their children to an educational framework in order to ease the trauma and help the parents start rebuilding their lives," said Amir Shacham, director of UJC MetroWest's Israel Office. "We found out that the cost for day care centers and kindergartens in Gush Katif [in Gaza] was much lower than in the rest of the country, and because of their community support, they were able to subsidize families in need. Right now, many families, both in Nitzan and other communities, cannot pay the full tuition, and there is no support system." The Nitzan community center needs a scholarship fund to aid about 30 families.
In Shaar Hanegev, the influx of new students has created the need for more hours of individual and group counseling, art and music therapy support groups, computers and educational software, tutoring, and social activities. Early childhood education and after-school enrichment programs require subsidies so that all youngsters may participate.
For more information on some of the specific needs being met by the 2006 MetroWest UJA Disengagement Fund, click here.
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