Welcome to Humans of JF&CS! Periodically, we will be featuring two different staff members to highlight the amazing work they do.
Behind our 40+ programs are compassionate, committed, and dedicated staff who care deeply about our mission and our agency. With this broad range of programs comes a team of staff members with diverse interests, passions, and skills, who all share a deep commitment to improve people's lives. We hope these staff spotlights give you a taste of the incredible individuals behind our services and a sense of the deep compassion and dedication they bring every day.
Christina Horvath
I am the Foundations Relations Associate so my responsibilities are grant writing and researching potential institutional funders. I look at potential funders to see if their funding priorities line up with our programmatic strengths.
I get really excited learning about all of the program areas as I am researching funding sources, especially about how the work is carried out in the community and how everything in JF&CS intersects. I also just love to read and write.
I think JF&CS is unique because it's a family environment. It's a place where everyone is compassionate and that, combined with their expertise and knowledge within their field, is a very powerful force for positive social change and carrying out good work to support our clients. I just love being surrounded by people who build each other up and care about what they do.
Christina Horvath is the Foundations Relations Associate.
Ava Harder
What's exciting to me about my work is seeing the connections volunteers make with our clients and the agency. Many group volunteers come to us because their company says they should do volunteer work, but in many cases, they leave JF&CS having made meaningful and lasting connections with our programs and our agency. Even with our younger volunteers, it's exciting to see kids making choices to come here on a Sunday to support other kids and families or to see synagogue's mitzvah projects benefiting our clients.
What's special about JF&CS is the amazing people who work here. I think the care they give to the work they do is extraordinary. It's wonderful to see a client benefit from so many different services that we provide. A client may come to us for one thing, but often will end up connected to many more resources and opportunities. It's extremely powerful.
Ava Harder is the Volunteer Services Manager.