Giving & Volunteering · April 16, 2026

This year was all about the volunteers. Jewish Family Service’s 2026 Annual Meeting was held on March 24, 2026 at the Mayerson JCC, to a full house and, for the first time, captions in Russian as well as English. It featured Jewish Family Service CEO Liz Vogel and Board President Ellen Feld, MD. But at its core, Jewish Family Service went out of its way to appreciate its donors and its volunteers...

Giving & Volunteering · February 25, 2026

Asked recently why he gave a legacy gift to JFS, Henry Fenichel, member of our Center for Holocaust Survivors, said, "Well, you know something about my background; the only reason I'm around and alive is because support of organizations such as this one. It started way back in the Holy Land, Palestine, before the state was established there, and when we came to the United States, as new immigrants. And so I appreciate what organizations like that do....

Holocaust Survivors · August 23, 2024

“I learned about the Shoah [the Holocaust] at a very young age. I can't even remember the first time I heard about it,” said 19-year-old Neele Ehlers, who grew up in Cottbus, Germany—a town about 12 miles from the eastern border with Poland. “The Shoah is so ingrained in our education, but it's something that’s very heavy and hard to deal with—especially when I think about how the people that did this were my ancestors.”

Jewish Culture & Community · April 25, 2024

Damp weather did nothing to darken spirts of attendees inside the Mayerson JCC’s Amberley Room, as they smiled and mingled prior to Jewish Family Service of Cincinnati’s (JFS) Annual Meeting on April 4. The atmosphere was one of celebration and the room was full as the community convened to learn of agency accomplishments and challenges, honor individual achievements, accomplish board business, and tout JFS’s theme for the upcoming year: Bridging Barriers. Building Connections.

Holocaust Survivors · June 06, 2023

As a native of Berlin, Enno Zschiedrich has been immersed in history his whole life. And not just any history; a precise history that is painful to remember, and dangerous to forget. Reckoning with this history is a central reason Enno came to Cincinnati, last September, as the Action Reconciliation Service for Peace (ARSP) volunteer for Jewish Family Service’s Center for Holocaust Survivors.

Giving & Volunteering · February 10, 2022

Jewish Family Service (JFS) of Cincinnati has recently convened the Create Your Jewish Legacy (CYJL) committee to encourage community members to talk with their families about a legacy commitment to JFS. CYJL is a nationwide program initiated in 2014 by the Grinspoon Foundation with the goal of building endowments that will sustain Jewish organizations locally, and secure a reliable financial future for Jewish communities across the country.

Holocaust Survivors · January 26, 2022

“Holocaust survivors are our teachers and our heroes,” said Mark Wilf, the chair of The Jewish Federations of North America’s (JFNA) board of trustees. “With inspiring strength and conviction, they teach us about the past. Now, they are teaching us how to better serve all older adults who have survived trauma.” JFNA’s Center on Aging and Trauma, a project of the Holocaust Survivor Initiative, has just awarded Jewish Family Service a one-year, $66,666 grant.