It wasn’t easy for Tina Wollenberger to admit she was living on the edge of poverty.
But it was even harder for her to get the monetary help she needed after a year of study in London and a brief relationship with a fellow university student cast her in the role of single parent.
“My daughter Avalon is now 7 and means more to me than anything,” said Wollenberger, a 33-year-old San Francisco resident. “Unfortunately, her father turned out to be your classic deadbeat dad…he refuses to pay child support.”
After a six-year struggle to obtain financial aid in the general community, a friend suggested Wollenberger seek help from the Jewish community.
She contacted Jewish Family and Children’s Services and became one of many individuals and families to benefit from a recent $225,000 grant from the Jewish Community Endowment Newhouse Fund of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation.
The grant allows the JFCS to provide monetary support, along with mandatory counseling, for Jews in need of short-term and emergency financial aid.
“People don’t always think of Jews as being needy, but that’s a real misconception,” said George Saxe, chair of the Newhouse Fund’s advisory committee.
According to JCF statistics, an estimated 15 percent of some 250,000 Bay Area Jews live at or below the poverty line. Last year, JFCS received some 2,200 requests for emergency financial assistance from single parents, families in crisis, frail elderly living on fixed incomes, homeless people, disabled individuals and people with AIDS.
The financial assistance program allowed Wollenberger to enroll her daughter in summer day camp at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco and to work designing jewelry and selling clothes at local flea markets.
“At JFCS my case wasn’t automatically considered a low priority. At other places, I felt like I was almost being penalized because I had a college education [and] had never been homeless, a drug user or in an abusive relationship.”
Saxe called the program one of the only major sources of financial support available within the community to help Jews in need of short-term crisis assistance.
“These one-time emergency grants are designed to alleviate suffering and maximize each recipient’s ability to become self-sufficient,” he said.
Becoming self-sufficient is important to Wollenberger, whose counseling sessions have taught her the necessity of financial planning, maintaining a routine and setting goals.
“The one-on-one sessions have been great. Since I don’t have a partner, I appreciate having someone to check in with every couple of weeks.”
The grant to JFCS was one of 12 totaling $962,500 recently allocated to a variety of organizations and projects addressing compelling human needs in the areas of education, health, religion and elder care. Other Newhouse grants awarded were:
*$111,000 to the Bureau of Jewish Education for scholarships to Camp Arazim, Camp Moshava, Camp Ramah, Camp Swig, Camp Tawonga and Camp Young Judea West.
*$88,000 to Mt. Zion Health Systems, Inc. for the provision of key medical services to Jewish Russian emigres at the outpatient department of UCSF/Mount Zion Medical Center.
*$105,000 to the Jewish Home for the Aged for the Fannie L. Morris Adult Day Care Center, a structured program of health care and social services.
*$35,000 to the Jewish Vocational Services for Joblink, an employment and placement service for adults with disabilities.
*$75,500 to the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco for its kosher meals transportation and support programs for seniors.
*$13,000 to the Peninsula Jewish Community Center for its senior support services.
*$20,000 to the Marin Jewish Community Center for its Shabbat lunch program for seniors.
*$15,000 to Congregation Sherith Israel for its communitywide Leisure League program for seniors.
*$55,000 to the JFCS AIDS Project, which provides direct assistance to patients and families, volunteer outreach and preventive education to children and adolescents.
*$110,000 to Stanford University for scholarships, with a minimum of $61,500 for students in Jewish Studies, including summer graduate student research stipends.
*$110,000 to the University of California for scholarships, with a minimum of $35,000 for students in Jewish Studies, including stipends for summer graduate student research.