Page 66 - The Connection Bridgewater Somerville Edition, September 2012

PAGE 66 THE BRIDGEWATER-SOMERVILLE CONNECTION SEPTEMBER 2012
150-A West High Street, Somerville, NJ 08876
Admin@JewishFamilySvc.org • www.JewishFamilySvc.org
Family Mentors and Senior
Friendly Visitors Needed
Providing Support for Life’s Challenges
JFS is looking for male and female volunteers to visit
families with children under 10 or frail elderly persons
to provide socialization and cognitive stimulation. Our
program allows choices in assignment. Volunteers
report personal benefits in this meaningful activity. We
offer orientation and training and ongoing support.
Visit our website to meet volunteers and those who
have benefitted.
Next Orientation and Training starts Sept. 5
Call to register:
908-725-7799
Can you remember a time when you felt
vulnerable? Perhaps it was after a move to
a new area, after the loss of a parent, or a
job, or simply just a bad day when you
wished that you had someone to talk to.
Jewish Family Service of Somerset, Hun-
terdon and Warren Counties (JFS) has cre-
ated an award winning program designed
to match a volunteer with a family with
young children or with a frail senior who
is experiencing those kinds of feelings of
vulnerability.
We met Debbie shortly after a divorce,
struggling to maintain a lifestyle for her
two children that was now out of reach.
She was working 3 jobs, finding herself
late for everything, feeling a total loss of
confidence in herself as a mother and as a
professional. She was eager to participate
in the Family Mentor Program and to be
matched with a professional woman who
could help her restore her confidence. And
over the course of a year of weekly home
visits by the volunteer, Debbie found her-
self again and was able to secure a more
stable life after the transitions she had gone
through.
Karen, Bob and their two children were
struggling with Karen’s diagnosis with
MS and the changes it was causing in
their family. Bob’s heavy work schedule
left Karen feeling alone much of the time,
and at a loss since the death of her moth-
er, which whom she had been very close,
a few months earlier. “I’m not looking for
a miracle,” Karen told the JFS social
worker who met with her to talk about
the Program, “but I sure could use some-
one to talk to.”
So often the need expressed by families
in these situations is for someone who
will “just listen” to their struggle, be sup-
portive and non judgemental, and per-
haps help them look at things in another
way…or just spend some fun time with
them to take their mind off of the chal-
lenges they are facing.
Sally came to us as a volunteer interested
in working with a senior. She felt that her
own mother who had lived out of state,
had been alone in her later years, and that
neither she nor her siblings had done as
much as she now wished they had to be
there for her. Sally told us that she hoped
to honor her mother by becoming a men-
tor to an isolated, frail senior. Over the
course of a year, Sally often shared with
the supervising staff of JFS how much
she was gaining from her relationship
with an 87 year old woman she visited
with frequently. In addition, Sally regu-
larly attended monthly group meetings
with JFS staff and other volunteers. She
told us how much she had learned about
community resources, the aging process
and the many ways other volunteers had
become involved with seniors they were
matched with.
The next mentor training, consisting of 3
three hour long sessions held over con-
secutive Mondays in September will
begin September 5. If you are interested
in more information about becoming a
volunteer, please contact a JFS Family
Mentor Program social worker, Sudha
Narasimhan or Jeanne Lankin at (908)
725-7799.
Anyone interested in referring a family
or a frail senior should contact the
agency as well.
JFS is a not for profit, non sectarian social
service agency serving the needs of individuals
and families in Somerset, Hunterdon and War-
ren Counties since 1980. Senior Services Pro-
grams and the Family Mentor Program are
supported through public grants, Grotta Fund
for Senior Care, Horizon Blue Cross/Blue
Shield of New Jersey, ERS Charitable Fund,
Somerset County Board of Chosen Freehold-
ers, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Founda-
tion, agency fundraising and donations.

Family Mentor Volunteers and
Senior Friendly Home Visitors Sought  
Somerset Regional Animal Shelter
100 Commons Way, Bridgewater, NJ 08807
908-725-0308 sras@verizon.net
www.fosras.com
Adoptions: Tues. & Thurs. 12-4 pm,
Wed. 12-6 pm, Fri. 12-7 pm, Sat. 12-5 pm
s , ri t r, J
908-725-0308 • somersetregional@verizon.net
www.theconnectionsnj.com