Current Community Needs

HappyBottoms provides diapers and pull-ups to Kansas City area children and works directly with Jewish Vocational Service and Jewish Family Services to help their clients. Diapers are not covered by food stamps, Medicaid or WIC. In 2023, HappyBottoms distributed 3.5 million diapers to 16,218 children. $100 would provide one baby with an 8-month supply of diapers through HappyBottoms' monthly diaper program (75 diapers each month).

HopeBuilders is a well-respected nonprofit that deploys volunteers and resources from local business to provide home repairs to low-income clients. It is currently seeking funds to help Jewish Family Service clients with a variety of services, including ramp instillations, door widenings, and larger projects like roof repairs that are outside of the scope of JFS’s Help at Home program. Projects typically cost $400-$4,000.

Funding of $700 is needed for a Stop the Bleed Station and five kits which will have all the tools necessary to help care for someone with excessive bleeding. Staff and students have been trained on the Stop the Bleed procedure, so having the proper equipment on hand will add to their feeling of safety and well-being at school.

The Rock Steady program provides classes that have been constructed by trained leaders in Parkinson’s physical and mental exercises. The goal of the program is to help Parkinson's patients live a better quality of life. Trained instructors guide participants in physical, social, and mental exercises to lessen depression and anxiety. Program participants also come together to share coping mechanisms and avoid isolation. The skills learned in the program can help keep the disease from progressing as quickly as it might.

JFS has experienced a large increase in need for adult incontinence products from both their Food Pantry and care management clients. JFS provides one week’s worth of food to Pantry clients and aims to do the same with clients who need adult briefs. Adult incontinence products are expensive, about $53/month from Costco, and are seldom available to JFS through other sources like Harvesters. Incontinence is a huge quality of life issue for the people who suffer from it and a hardship for them and their caregivers when they don’t have what they need.

The Jewish Community Foundation has recently granted JFS funds to expand their Food Pantry offerings by installing special food lockers that allow clients to pick up food boxes outside of normal operating hours. JFS is seeking monetary and food donations to help fill the new food lockers.

Counseling is an important component of Jewish Family Services’ offerings. Two-thirds of the clients JFS provides mental health services to are low-income and uninsured. While most of these clinical hours are reimbursed for Jackson County clients, there is not institutional funding for Johnson County clients. Even with support from the Health Forward Foundation, JFS provided $22,000 in counseling for which the agency absorbed the cost. JFS seeks funding to help defray these costs.

The Chesed Fund provides direct financial assistance to the most vulnerable Jews in our community, to be used to address needs like rent assistance, utility bill assistance, medical bill assistance, car repair or food. Last year, nearly $250,000 was distributed out of the Chesed Fund to care for people with these needs, allowing the community to serve 197 individuals, including 33 Holocaust survivors. Recently, The Alan and Myra Rosenberg Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation created a 1:1 match for all new or increased grants to the Chesed Fund.

In the Community Burial Program, the Jewish Federation, Jewish Family Services, Rabbinical Association, and Louis Memorial Chapel work together to help pay for the burial of members of the Jewish community who do not have sufficient resources to cover burial expenses and to prevent this burden from falling upon their families. On average, the program covers nine to ten individuals a year. Covered expenses include the casket, grave liner, transportation, and preparation of the body.

JVS is requesting funds to help provide direct subsidy, food, diapers, career counseling, and social work for its clients. The JVS Emergency Assistance Program provides one-time financial support in amounts ranging from $100-$500. Last year they aided more than 900 individuals and provided $90,000 in support.

The JVS Scholarship Program has been created to provide educational opportunities to those employees of JVS that wish to obtain continuing education, certifications, or degrees in areas of interest that will improve their career prospects. This benefit is intended to assist employees in increasing their effectiveness in their current positions, prepare employees for possible advancement, and/or enhance employees' chances for positions with greater responsibility internally or externally. JVS will review scholarship applications on a semi-annual basis. Eligibility and scoring criteria will favor underserved employees, as many employees of color or employees with countries of origin outside the United States have not had as many opportunities to access higher education.

One in five teens say they struggle to afford period products or are unable to purchase them at all, according to a national study. As a consequence, 84 percent say they’ve missed school, or know somebody else who has. To help address this issue,NCJW's Period Project donates menstrual products to middle and high school students in the Kansas City metropolitan area where they are needed most.

KC Kosher Meals on Wheels prepares fully cooked, home-style kosher meals and soup in its commercial kitchen in the heart of Overland Park. Every week, KC Kosher Meals on Wheels delivers bags with meals, soups, bread, fruit and a treat - with a smile - to people in need in and around Kansas City. Many of its recipients are isolated
and have no visitors for long periods of time. $3,600 sponsors meals and visitations for one senior for 52 weeks (a full year). $1,800 sponsors meals and visitations for one senior for 26 weeks (half a year).

Village Shalom would like to replace the worn carpet in the gym with slip resistant rubber flooring. The rubber flooring minimizes joint strain and will be easier to clean. Approximately 30-40 people use the gym each day. The whole project will cost $12,000. 70% of the cost is for the material and 30% is for installation.

Music is a very important aspect of life at Village Shalom. Its piano is played practically every day for special programing like the Heller Bettinger Music Series and Opera-to-Go with the Lyric Opera, holiday events, weekly happy hour, resident and family gatherings, resident piano use/lessons, and sing-a-longs. The grand piano has been worn down through years of playing and can no longer be maintained to the quality its programs require. Village Shalom wishes to purchase a new quality grand piano. The UMKC Performing Arts Center hosts an annual piano sale with used high quality pianos which are available for between $10,000 and $12,000.

Village Shalom seeks $299 to purchase a Vasco M3 Language Translator Device. This handy device, which translates text or voice quickly and accurately, will be quite helpful for several residents who do not speak English as their primary language.