Fresh produce from the VJCG ready to go to the Kitchen. Rainbow carrots, kale, green onions, bok choy.
Community Partnership

Get ready for spring with the Vancouver Jewish Community Garden

The Spring Equinox is right around the corner and the Vancouver Jewish Community Garden is officially ready for ...
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A group of older adults participate in a fitness class.
Older Adults

A Holistic Approach to Senior Wellness: Mind, Body, and Spirit

Being healthy is not a "one-size-fits-all" concept: it looks different for everyone. Enter holistic wellness, which acknowledges that ...
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Two people sitting outside in conversation. A young person with short hair listens seriously to an older person facing away from the camera.
Mental Health & Counselling

Finding Hope: Overcoming Mental Health Stigma

In recent years, the topic of mental health has been just about everywhere: in conversations, on billboards, and ...
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Community Partnership

Celebrating the Holidays: Tips to Lower Stress

Whether it be Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Winter Solstice or Festivus for the rest of us, most cultures and ...
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2929 Commercial Dr, Vancouver, BC
Community Partnership

JFS Has a New Permanent Home

Jewish Family Services (JFS) is excited to announce the purchase of a commercial building at 2929 Commercial Drive ...
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The JFS Delivery truck filled with donated bags of food.
Community Partnership

Thank you for nourishing our community!

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in Project Isaiah to help bring healthy and nutritious food ...
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Text reads: community is our priority. Background image is black and white with two hands clasped in the forground and blurred people in the background.
Mental Health & Counselling

Message from the CEO regarding Israel

This weekend, during the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret, a day synonymous with spiritual healing and reflection, Hamas ...
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Community Partnership

Vancouver Jewish Community Garden

The Vancouver Jewish Community Garden is in full bloom. Click Here to Learn More
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JFS dietetics interns pose for the camera during a Community Kitchen event they're leading.
Community Partnership

Reflections From our UBC Dietetics Interns

Among its many roles in our community, JFS is an educational hub that emphasizes skill-building and empowerment for ...
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Foreground image: the Kitchen staff standing in front of the JFS truck. Background images: fresh food provided by the Grocery Program.
News

Project Isaiah is coming up soon!

For years, Project Isaiah has been a community-wide food drive collecting non-perishables. Each year, you've stepped up and ...
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A person with medium length hair puts leafy green vegetables into multiple brown grocery bags.
Community Partnership

Food Bank or Food Hub: What’s in a name?

Hunger Action Month is here again! At JFS, we are working on food access issues, hunger, and food ...
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Community Partnership

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

In partnership with Jewish Family Services, Kerrisdale Oakridge Marpole Better at Home, the Jewish Community Centre of Greater ...
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Community Partnership

The Grand Opening of the VJCG!

MindsEye Photography by Tybie; Nucleus Photography by Efrat Gal-Or On a sunny Sunday afternoon, the community came together to ...
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A person holding an LGBTQ2S+ flag
Mental Health & Counselling

The Significance of Language in Counseling: Fostering LGBTQ2S+ Inclusivity

How do service providers such as JFS create a welcoming environment for LGBTQ2S+ clients?  It's an important question ...
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A person on stage looking out over a dark room crowded with people seated around tables.
Events

Thank you for Imagining the Future!

Together, we raised over $442,000 to support more than 3,000 people through JFS' critical programs and services, including food ...
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A person giving a live cooking demonstration to a room of people.
Events

Nourishing Bodies, Minds, and Spirits

On the sunny afternoon of May 11th, 50 people from JFS’ community joined together at the Kitchen for B’tayavon: A ...
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Stories

Uniting Communities through Food

The Bvulgari Chapter of the Canadian Hadassah-WIZO (CHW-Vancouver)  visited The Kitchen to bake 200 Hamantaschen for JFS clients ...
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Female counselling talking to client
Mental Health & Counselling

Social Justice Through Counselling

JFS counsellors are trained to use a social justice lens to reduce barriers affecting marginalized people in our ...
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News

Volunteer Spotlight: Melissa

Once a week, Melissa spends time at The Kitchen assisting with food prep and packaging for the Meal ...
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News

Volunteer Spotlight: Malcolm

As a UBC undergrad student originally from Kamloops, Malcolm wanted to give back to his new community and ...
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Events

Community Kitchen: Dumplings from Around the World

The Community Kitchen series bring individuals together to learn new skills, and to connect with the community through ...
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Community Partnership

City Beet Farm: Veggies for Neighbours

JFS is partnering with City Beet Farm this year! City Beet Farm is a small-scale, multi-site urban farm ...
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News

Learning from Each Other: Intergenerational Dialogues

JFS' Thriving Seniors held its first Intergenerational Dialogue program, "Learning from Each Other" last month, which brought together ...
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News

Building Bridges to Inclusion

The path to our amazing partnerships and projects has always been led by our values. We are proud ...
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Events

JFS Innovators 2023: Imagine the Future

We are excited for the 17th annual Innovators Lunch. After three years of being apart, we can't wait for ...
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News

2022: A Year in Review

Another year has come and gone - what a year of obstacles and accomplishments! For me, it has ...
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News

Breathing Underwater: A support group for adults living with anxiety

Over the course of 8 sessions, trained counsellors will guide group exercises and discussions to help participants understand ...
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JFS Board Members
News

2022 JFS Board Nominees

JFS Board Nominees DONNA CANTOR holds a Masters in Social Work from Yeshiva University and is a registered ...
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Housing Illustration
News

Let’s talk Housing Issues, Together

On October 20, we held our JFS Housing event at the Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood House.  Presentations from Shelley ...
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PI Bags
News

Thank You For Making Project Isaiah A Success!

Thanks to our incredible partnerships with local synagogues, schools, and YOU, over $50,000 and 6,500+ lbs of nutritious ...
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AGM Banner
News

JFS Annual General Meeting

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Date: Wednesday, November 23rdTime: 1:00PMLocation: Zoom Please register in advance. Once registered, you will ...
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News

Make A Meal, Build Community

The Food Security team proudly launched the Community Kitchen program from our very own Kitchen. Naomi Kestenbaum-Evans taught ...
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News

Belmont Properties Helps JFS Provide Temporary Housing 

 “He who saves just one life, saves the world entire.”  The Talmud   JFS had been working with the ...
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A parent holds both hands of a child.
News

Participate in our Parent/Caregiver Survey

A few months ago, a group of parents of children and youth with disabilities got together to speak ...
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A photo of a person in a warehouse.
Community Partnership

September is Hunger Action Month!

It's Hunger Action Month! This is the perfect time to learn more about food insecurity, its impact on ...
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News

Healthy City for All Award

JFS receives "Healthy City for All" Award. On May 30th, JFS was honoured with the coveted "Healthy City ...
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marc smiling
Stories

Marc’s Story

In his clean, quiet home in Nanaimo, surrounded by his children and grandchildren, you would never know that ...
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woman holding a teddy bear
News

Bringing Joy and Support to the Holiday Season

If you live on a low-income, access to holiday services and food can be expensive and overwhelming. This ...
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man smiling
Stories

Crossing Borders to Support the Food Bank

Henry Rosenthal has been delivering food to the JFS Food Bank from Point Roberts, USA, throughout the pandemic. ...
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people holding a sign saying thank you for the hot lunches
Stories

Building a food-secure future together

Proper nutrition plays a central part in learning, yet 1 in 8 households in Canada struggle to access ...
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mother and two sons
Stories

Rhea’s Story: Courage to Change

It was a year before Rhea* even mentioned the abuse she was experiencing to the counsellors and caseworkers ...
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two people holding a gift
News

What You Should Know About JFS

As JFS' Board Chair, Jody Dales shares what makes JFS special, the importance of valuing our people, and ...
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elderly man sitting in doctor's office
News

Caring for Our Holocaust Survivors

JFS and Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre (VHEC) are pleased to announce a new partnership to serve Greater Vancouver's ...
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a person suffering from covid-19
News

Preparing for Covid-19

By Mara Shnay Sadly with the Omicron variant, many of us will get Covid-19 over the next two ...
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woman putting on a mask
News

JFS Covid-19 Safety Plan

JFS is working hard to keep everyone safe and healthy so we can continue to provide services to ...
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three board members
News

Meet Our New Board Members

We are delighted to welcome Eli Joseph, Madison Slobin and Sherri Wise as new board members at JFS. ...
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blurry image
News

Homelessness in the Jewish Community

Hear Us, We Are Here is a project to bring awareness and understanding to Jewish homelessness in the ...
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woman donating clothes
News

Take Action on Homelessness

What Can I Do? Learn about the causes of homelessness and what it includes eg. living on the ...
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person looking over the edge of a cliff into a sunset
News

Experiencing Grief and Loss

Crossing the Bridge: Experiencing Grief and Loss in a Pandemic By Lily Shalev, Senior Outreach Therapist at JFS  ...
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addiction counseling services
News

Addiction Counselling Services at JFS

JFS Clients are now able to see Jewish Addiction Community Services (JACS) counsellors at The Kitchen by appointment. ...
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george holding a dog
Stories

George’s Story

Before George came to JFS, he was struggling to make ends meet for his growing family. Finding employment ...
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News

Moishe’s Farm Retreat

Calling all Jewish young adults! Are you a socially conscious foodie & adventurer? Join us in the heart ...
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the jfs kitchen
News

We Are Moving!

Our JFS office move is underway. We will be moving to two new office spaces over the next two months to ...
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News

An Outstanding Innovators 2021

Thanks to you, we raised over $270,000 for JFS Innovators 2021! To all of our donors and sponsors who made ...
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jfs truck
News

New JFS Van Hits the Road

JFS has been a food security advocate for decades and today is a moment we want to etch ...
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two seniors
News

Thriving Seniors

Connect. Learn. Thrive. We're excited to announce the launch of a new program called Thriving Seniors. This innovative program ...
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jfs food hub sketch
News

New Food Hub Opens in April 2021

Last night, at our AGM, we shared an exciting announcement. In the spring of 2021, our ​Food Security ...
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News

Client Needs During COVID-19

In this JFS Client Update document compiled and written by the JFS Client Advisory Committee (CAC), we endeavor ...
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hand sanitizer
News

JFS COVID-19: What We Ask of You

What We Ask of You Wash your hands immediately upon entering the JFS building or location or your ...
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hand sanitizer
News

JFS COVID-19: Our Commitment to You

Our Commitment to You: JFS staff are being briefed regularly on measures to reduce the risk of infection ...
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Community Partnership

David Discovers the Joy of Music

Thanks to donors, a client on the autism spectrum discovers community through a local drumming circle. David was ...
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Community Partnership

A Family for Every Child

Adoptive Families Association of BC (AFABC) has been dedicated to finding families for children since 1977. This organization ...
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karen malone
Stories

Q&A: Karen Malone

INNOVATORS 2020 KEYNOTE SPEAKER KAREN MALONE, FOUNDER & CEO, LITPARK Q: As the Founder and CEO of LitPark, ...
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News

2018-2019 Annual Report

At JFS, our work is only possible with you. You helped us successfully deliver our programs and services ...
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News

Jewish Food Link expands to North Shore

Jewish Family Services has expanded our healthy food program to the North Shore! Jewish Food Link provides healthy ...
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News

Hanukkah Helpers

Make this Hanukkah Memorable for a Family in Need Each donor family is reviewed and matched by our ...
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News

Making healthy food a priority

Increasing Healthy Options at the Jewish Food Bank Jacob knows how important it is to have healthy food. ...
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News

Introducing Our New CEO

The Board of Directors of Jewish Family Services (JFS) is delighted to announce the appointment of Tanja Demajo ...
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News

Farewell Message from Richard Fruchter

Dear Friends, At the end of August, I am retiring from my position as CEO at Jewish Family ...
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Stories

Housing Position Makes a Difference

Photo Above: Lina (right), Tenant Community Liaison, and Harriet, (left) tending the garden boxes at Dany Guincher's community ...
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News

The Power of Community

On May 14, 2019, over 600 people came together at our 15th annual Innovators Lunch to support the ...
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News

Jewish Food Security Task Force Report

Read the Jewish Food Security Task Force Report We're very pleased to announce the release of a report ...
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Stories

Building a New Life

Amy looks forward to starting a new life with her daughter. As a JFS client, she is among ...
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Stories

JDAIM

February is Jewish Disability Awareness and Inclusion (JDAIM) month. It's an important month to take stock of how we as ...
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Stories

5 Questions with Lane Merrifield

The newest "dragon" to join CBC's hit show Dragons' Den, Lane Merrifield is one of Canada's leading tech ...
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Stories

Helping Mariam Find Meaningful Work

Mariam came to Canada two years ago from Armenia. With her education and experience in administration, she was ...
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Lane Merrifield
Stories

Meet Lane Merrifield

The newest "dragon" to join CBC's hit show Dragons' Den, Lane Merrifield is one of Canada's leading tech ...
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Stories

Lucy’s Story

I am grateful to JFS for so much. I had a major health crisis when I came to ...
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