Sharon Flynn’s two children call her “Grandma Shirley,” and Flynn considers the elderly woman a “soulmate.”
“I feel like I’ve known her my whole life,” says Flynn of her bond to 86-year-old Shirley Galbraith of Oakland.
What started as a businesslike connection between a volunteer offering companionship and an older woman who lives alone has clearly grown into a far deeper, two-way friendship. It’s a story that likely has been repeated often in the 125-year history of Jewish Family and Children’s Services of the East Bay.
Started in 1877 by Jewish women who fed and clothed transients, orphans, the elderly and other needy members of the Oakland community, the original Daughters of Israel Relief Society has branched out into a $2.7 million agency. While its 65 employees serve some 10,000 clients annually, the organization has retained its original mission of tikkun olam, repairing the world.
“We are here to help our community when no one else can,” says Lynn Simon, president of the agency, which now helps such diverse communities as refugees and immigrants from Afghanistan, Cambodia and Bosnia.
“Our Jewish teachings and Jewish values compel us to help those people who are vulnerable, whether they be members of the Jewish community or outside the Jewish community.”
On Saturday, Nov. 9, JFCS will throw itself a 125th anniversary celebration in Berkeley called “An Evening of Cultural Harmony.” Reflecting the agency’s multicultural client base, the fund-raising concert in Berkeley includes the San Francisco Klezmer Experience, the Barbad Ensemble performing classical Iranian music and a trio presenting sounds from Latin America.
With three offices spread between Alameda and Contra Costa counties, JFCS runs a network of programs for needy people of all ages and coming from more than 30 countries.
A sampling of the agency’s programs include:
*A consultation service funded by Alameda County that sends a social worker to preschools to observe kids and give advice on behavior problems and other issues.
*A resettlement office that sponsors the arrival of Jewish emigres from the former Soviet Union and helps them adjust to life here.
*A year-old privately funded project in East Oakland that offers mental health services to refugees from Afghanistan, Cambodia and Bosnia.
It is this project, Community Gateways, that exemplifies the agency’s new direction. As the number of Jewish emigres from the former Soviet Union wanes, JFCS now serves non-Jews.
“We decided to take the skills we learned and apply them to work with other groups in our community,” says Ted Feldman, executive director of the agency.
Funded by a $300,000 annual grant from the California Endowment, Community Gateways works with refugees experiencing post-traumatic stress and depression from the violence they witnessed in their homelands, and tries to help its clients by recognizing that they may be unfamiliar and uncomfortable with Western mental health techniques.
Many of JFCS’s services take a one-on-one approach to those in need, such as the program for homebound seniors and refugees, which dispatches more than 100 volunteers for friendly visits, says Ruth Durling, JFCS’s volunteer coordinator. “Providing that intellectual stimulation and a nice smile.”
In the case of Flynn and Galbraith, the visits turned into much more.
After they were paired up less than two years ago, Galbraith became an instant hit in Flynn’s household. Now they visit each other regularly, go to the symphony and museum and recently celebrated Galbraith’s 86th birthday.
“It’s just the most wonderful, wonderful thing to have Sharon in my life,” says Galbraith.
The feeling is quite mutual. “She’s very cool. We can’t live without her,” says Flynn. “We really appreciate having her in our lives.”