March 18, 2020
Dear Omaha Jewish Community,
As a 117-year old community organization the Jewish Federation of Omaha is charged with supporting and caring
for our community. We thank the many Annual Campaign and JFO Foundation
contributors who allow our agencies and professional staff to do this
work. In fact, we will raise over $3.4M for this year’s Annual
Campaign. This is the largest Campaign in the history of our amazing community, and we can’t thank you enough!
Suffice
to say, the recent COVID-19 developments will impact many people in
both our Jewish and Omaha community. During this crisis we believe our
focus should be on addressing the following challenges:
- Ensuring our vulnerable seniors are taken care of and their feelings of isolation and loneliness are reduced
- Assist community members with urgent financial needs
- Assist JFO agency employees who might be impacted by the crisis
- Identify other needs throughout the Omaha community and do our part to chip in
In the coming days, we will establish a fund to support those impacted. We will provide you with an easy and effective way to make a difference! We thank you in advance!
If
you read my email Monday, you know that life on the Jewish Federation
of Omaha campus is not business as usual. After our first 24 hours, the
staff is hard at work. Some are able to be here on campus and others are
working remotely from home.
Jewish
Senior Outreach is available to deliver meals to seniors in our
community during this coronavirus health crisis. We know that folks are
unable to get to the store or go out to eat as usual. We want to make
sure that all our elders have meals and proper nutrition. Please stay
home, follow the health guidelines, and let us know if we can be of
assistance. Call Shelly Fox at (402) 334-6532 if you would benefit from
meal delivery or know someone who could use this help.
The
Rose Blumkin Jewish Home staff is working around the clock to care for
the residents. I know it is hard to not visit family and friends at the
Home. FaceTime and video chat is available. Staff is working hard to
keep spirits up.
Jewish
Family Service staff is working remotely and are offering Tele-mental
Health services via Zoom. Our JFS Assistance Coordinator is working with
volunteers on getting Passover assistance out.
On
the rest of the campus, dedicated staffers are working remotely from
home and taking care of business as best they can. Everyone can still be
reached on their regular work phone numbers and email addresses. For
now, we have our receptionist here answering the phone and forwarding
calls.
The
Jewish Press will publish this week, but there will not be a March 27
issue. They are busy finishing up the Passover issue and plan to have
that out April 3.
A
number of JCC departments are working on content for our new ‘Virtual
J’. This covers everything from exercise and nutrition videos to
Facebook Story Time and a virtual Shabbat for CDC families.
Follow PJ Library on Facebook or Instagram for great Jewish content for families with young children – incredible content is posted SIX times a day. www.pjlibrary.org also has a wide range of resources.
The Dorothy Kaplan Book Club will begin meeting virtually until further notice. Reach out to Jennie Gates Beckman for more information including dates and times if you’d like to join the Zoom call.
The Community Beit Midrash continues to meet weekly. You can join the March 18 virtual online discussion here. It will begin at 7:30 p.m. that evening.
IHE
staff has reached out to our survivor community and all is well right
now. Each has a support system in place, but staff will continue to
monitor their needs. Links to our speakers have been shared with all
participating Week of Understanding schools/teachers along with a lesson
plan for use in place of our normal Week of Understanding
programming. A virtual art show is planned using YouTube while our
Gallery space is not open to the public. In addition, a plan for Yom
HaShoah has been sent to area rabbis. More than likely the program will
be virtual. We will know more in the days to come.
Be sure and check out some great Israel-based activities from Ron Lugasy here.
Friedel
Jewish Academy students are continuing their education via e-learning
while the school is closed. This will continue until at least April 7.
Let’s
commit to doing all we can to support one another through this
crisis. This is what makes our community so special. And when the time
is right, we will welcome everyone back to a safe and thriving campus.