Older Adult Services · January 16, 2026

Niki Eschen, at 86, has had an abundantly rich work and family life. Yet it is the story of her inner Jewish journey that is most striking. Niki’s apartment boils over with the colorful gifts of her children, her grand- and great-grandchildren...

Caregiver Support · November 26, 2025

“I would do it all over again,” said Kenny Tessel, talking about caring for his father at the end of his life. Jewish Family Service talked with Kenny about caring for his father, Eddie Tessel, who passed in October of 2024.

Counseling & Mental Health · September 09, 2025

“Youth Mental Health First Aid is really about giving adults tools for how to listen and respond when a young person is having a hard time,” says Leah Marcus, who directs Youth Mental Health Services at Jewish Family Service.

Counseling & Mental Health · May 22, 2025

“I felt unanchored and lost. It became too much to carry my own laundry,” said Frances [a pseudonym to protect privacy], remembering. It was an awful time in her life: first, her husband had passed after a long illness, with Frances nursing him for the final two years. Then she had left her Indianapolis home and moved to Cincinnati to live with her son, since he wanted to help her—however within a month of her arrival, her son was diagnosed with terminal cancer....

Older Adult Services · May 20, 2025

Jewish Family Service (JFS) is on a roll. After recently becoming the only program in Ohio to win a grant from the national Alzheimer’s Foundation for its new Adult Day Services, JFS just won another honor. On March 20, its K’vod Connect program won the Tristate Association for Professionals in Aging’s Outstanding Project in the Field of Aging Award.

Older Adult Services · August 22, 2023

As Fay May was thinking ahead to her upcoming 92nd birthday, she eagerly shared how she was planning for a special ‘Birthday Shabbat’ at Rockdale Temple. “I’ll have to take my walker, of course,” Fay said. “And I have an eye problem, so I can't strike a match. Rabbi Meredith Kahan will have to light the candles on the bimah—so I don't burn the temple down,” she added with a mischievous grin. “And then, I will say the barucha (blessing), and they’ll bring the wine and the challah to my seat."

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.