By Morgan Goad
After two years of online Annual Meetings and last year’s meeting at our offices, JFS was thrilled to welcome the community to Maymont’s gorgeous new event space, the Westover Modern, for our 174th Annual Meeting on June 12.
We were grateful to spend time with many JFS donors and volunteers, our partners in the Jewish community, and several recent arrivals from Ukraine!
JFS’ now Immediate Past President, Eric Shoenfeld opened the program with an announcement that JFS Richmond is the oldest Jewish Family Services in North America and earned hearty applause. One of our new Board Members, KBI’s Rabbi Dovid Asher, delivered a stirring but humorous D’Var Torah on the importance of making a positive impact on our own city.
Eric followed by thanking JFS’ departing volunteers, Sandy Sisisky and Cantor Dara Rosenblatt, for their leadership on the Board, and then introduced the five newly elected Board Members:
Rabbi Dovid Asher of Keneseth Beth Israel.
Tiffany Ford, JD, the Deputy Commissioner of Administration for the Virginia Department of Health.
Dan Jackson, the recently retired Executive Director of Williams Mullen.
Rachel Safren, a Health Care Consultant at LabCorp.
Chris Way, JD, the founder and owner of Way Law.
Longtime JFS volunteer leader Ron Felmus installed JFS’ new Executive Committee – 2nd VP, Sara Griebel; Treasurer, Martin Miller; Secretary, Cindy Boswell; and Immediate Past President, Eric Shoenfeld – and finally, introduced and installed JFS’ President for 2023 – 2025, Dr. Michael Mandel.
Dr. Mandel remarked on the breadth of JFS’ services: “To a young couple facing the challenge of starting a family, it’s an agency that can help with adoption. To a teenager or adult dealing with personal or relationship issues, it’s a counseling agency. To families and individuals needing help with care management or placement, it’s a social service agency. To someone needing care at home it’s a home care agency. To a Ukrainian family thrust into a new world, it’s a resettlement agency. And to someone dealing with the last journey of life, it’s hospice. JFS is all these things and more.”
CEO Wendy Kreuter concluded the Annual Meeting by sharing a number of updates on JFS’ work throughout our 174th year: raising caregiver wages by 20%, adding new counselors specializing in children and youth, welcoming 94 Ukrainians to Richmond with the help of the Federation and our community members, and launching Kirva Hospice in partnership with Beth Sholom Senior Living.
Also featured were short videos with individuals talking about JFS’s impact on their or their loved one’s lives.
Past Board Member Jessica Samet raved about the care, support, and friendship her mother receives from JFS companions. A Ukrainian resettled by JFS, Konstantin Koptelov, also shared his story: his brief speech earned a lengthy standing ovation. (Visit JFS’ Facebook page to see the videos! –
https://www.facebook.com/jfs.richmond ?
Wendy concluded by thanking JFS’ leadership, donors, volunteers, partners, and staff, and reminding everyone that plans are underway to celebrate JFS’ 175th Anniversary in 2024!
If you have any questions, contact Morgan Goad at (804) 349-0758 or by email at
Jewish Family Services is supported, in part, by a generous annual contribution and programming grants from the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond.
