Cleveland remains a highly engaged Jewish community – after you look at the report, you can join the conversation online or by calling the study hotline at 216.593.2910. We look forward to hearing from you!

To be eligible for consideration for aid, a family’s total household income should not exceed $100,000 annually. Exceptions to this rule are made in unique circumstances. Funds are distributed each August for the fall term. Both full and part-time Jewish students in undergraduate or graduate studies can apply once a year. For more information, contact Toby Bresky, Manager of College Financial Aid Program at tbresky@jfsa-cleveland.org. Information is also available in local high school guidance offices. 

CLEVELAND, OH—Many children in the City of Cleveland who rely on school-based meals are at risk for going hungry during their two-week winter break.

To respond to this immediate crisis in our community, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, in partnership with the Children’s Hunger Alliance of Northeast Ohio, has organized a first of its kind Winter Break Lunch Program, which is providing free, hot, nutritious lunches for 200 children (ages 1-18) on each of the eight days of the program (totaling 1,600 lunches provided).

To kick-off the program, Cleveland Brown’s defensive back Usama Young visited one of the sites on Tuesday and provided winter coats to each of the children. Young, along with several teammates, including Josh Cribbs, Mike Adams, Buster Skrine, Eric Hagg and Quenton Spears, distributed the new coats, hats and gloves to the very happy children who attended the program. “I am excited to be able to help out and be a part of this. It’s all about improving things for these kids,” said Young.

Lunches are provided at four Cleveland sites, which were carefully selected to reach the highest number of children in need: each site is within two miles of a minimum of ten schools where 60 percent or more of the students rely on school-based meals. (One school has a student population with 100 percent dependence on school-based meals.) The sites participating in the Winter Break Lunch Program are: Golden Ciphers, Harvard Community Services Center, Nueva Luz and St. Malachi Center.

Along with the lunches, children will receive new winter clothing items and holiday gifts, and will be entertained with a variety of recreational activities.

According to Children’s Hunger Alliance Vice President of Regional Operations Debra Parmer: “One in four children in the City of Cleveland experience food insecurity—living with the constant fear of hunger. “ “This partnership enables us to reach hunger-vulnerable children during this especially difficult time in many of their lives, and provide not only nutritious hot lunches, but also warm clothing and enriching entertainment to brighten their days during the holiday season,” added Parmer.

Marci Moses, the Jewish Federation’s Winter Break Lunch Program Project Co-chair is an ardent believer in the need to make a difference now: “As Jews, we are focused on improving the world for all people. Every year at our Passover Seders, we recite, ‘Let all who are hungry come and eat.’ We take these words very seriously and believe it is our obligation to make sure that fewer children in our community go hungry.”

In this spirit, Roetzel & Andress and Fifth Third Bank have generously sponsored the program. Additionally, Roetzel & Andress employees raised money to purchase winter socks, hats and gloves for each child who comes for lunch.

This is not the first time that the Jewish Federation and Children’s Hunger Alliance have partnered to find innovative ways to help alleviate hunger in our community and raise awareness of this crisis facing so many everyday. Since 2009, the Federation’s Jewish Volunteer Network (JVN) has worked with Children’s Hunger Alliance to deploy the hundreds of JVN volunteers to Cleveland Public Library sites for the Summer Lunch Program. The program, sponsored by the City of Cleveland Department of Public Works, provides lunches to children reliant on free or reduced-fee school meals who end up going without these resources during the summer months when school is not in session.

This past month, Federation and Children’s Hunger Alliance staff and volunteers teamed up with community members to take the Food Stamp Challenge (organized nationally by Fighting Poverty with Faith and co-chaired by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and National Council of Churches and Charities and includes over 50 national faith group partners), to better understand living on the average weekly food stamp budget of $31.50, and raise awareness of the need for the SNAP Program (formerly known as Food Stamps).

For more information about ways you can get involved, contact JVN Director Karen Steiger at ksteiger@jcfcleve.org or 216.593.2900, ext. 130.

WHO:               City of Cleveland children ages 1-18

WHEN:            Tuesday, December 27 – Friday, December 30, 2011

Tuesday, January 3 – Friday, January 6, 2012

MEDIA & PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES

Thursday, December 29, 11:30 am – 1 pm

Golden Ciphers

5704 Broadway Ave., Cleveland, OH 44127

(St Ignatius High School Jugglers will entertain!)

Contacts: Pam Hubbard and Anthony Hubbard

Tuesday, January 3, 11:30 am – 1 pm

Harvard Community Services Center

18240 Harvard Ave., Cleveland, Oh 44128

Contacts: Victoria (Vicki) Glover and Michelle Oliver

Vicky Glover: 216.991.8585, ext. 3130

MEDIA CONTACTS

Karen Wyman, Jewish Federation of Cleveland: cell 216.644.5766, kwyman@jcfcleve.org

Debra Parmer, Children’s Hunger Alliance Vice President of Regional Operations: 216.541.5915, ext. 3202, DParmer@ChildrensHungerAlliance.org

Marci Moses, Jewish Federation of Cleveland, Program Co-chair is available for interviews: 216.408.6442

PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS

Marci Moses and Eliana LeVine, Jewish Federation of Cleveland

PROGRAM SPONSORS

• Roetzel & Andress
• Fifth Third Bank

— Jewish Federation of Cleveland —

Architecture and design firm Vocon helps Federation create sustainable community space

CLEVELAND (Dec. 13, 2011)—The Mandel Building of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland has been awarded Gold certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system. The LEED rating system is an internationally recognized benchmark for the design, construction and operation of green buildings. The Gold ranking certifies that the building, renovated in 2010, successfully employs a variety of sustainable measures that improve performance in key areas of human and environmental health.

“As we planned the renovation of the Federation’s new facility, our commitment to the environment was paramount in our decisions regarding the use of recycled materials, increasing energy and water efficiency,” said Michael Siegal, Jewish Federation of Cleveland board chair. “These are major components and considerations in achieving sustainability now and for the future. I am thrilled that our LEED certified Mandel Building brings to life a core value of our Federation.”

The interior design and renovation of the building was led by Vocon, a Cleveland based architecture and design firm that seeks to bring sustainable design elements to all of its projects.

“It was a pleasure working with an organization as committed to environmental stewardship as the Federation,” said Valerie Molinski, sustainability coordinator, LEED AP BD+C, Vocon.

Vocon architect and LEED AP BD+C Heather Schmit added, “From the maximization of natural light to the use of regional materials and energy efficient systems, no detail was overlooked in pursuing LEED certification.”

The project received LEED Gold due to its focus on recycling and waste reduction, improving indoor air quality, increasing energy and water efficiency, and encouraging alternative forms of transportation.

Highlights of the “green” aspects of the building include:

• Use of recycled building materials, regionally manufactured products and eco-friendly FSC certified wood
• Use of low-emitting paints, furniture, flooring and other finish materials
• A rooftop solar array that generates onsite renewable energy estimated to prevent 1,500 tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere over 25 years (the equivalent of planting 54,000 trees)
• Indoor bicycle storage, staff showers/changing rooms, and reserved carpool parking spaces
• Water-efficient faucets and toilets that reduce the building’s water consumption by more than 40 percent.

LEED is a point-based rating system in which projects earn points based on how well they satisfy green building criteria. The Mandel Building earned every credit point that was sought.

The Jewish Federation of Cleveland aims to send zero waste to landfills by 2019.

About Jewish Federation of Cleveland

The Jewish Federation of Cleveland is a nonprofit charitable organization that supports social service, educational and humanitarian efforts that improve lives in Cleveland and worldwide. For more information, visit www.jewishcleveland.org.

About Vocon

Established in 1987, Vocon is focused on creating distinctive, productive work environments for private- and public-sector clients throughout the country. It has offices in Cleveland and New York. Some of Vocon’s notable clients include Cleveland Clinic, Goodyear, Jones Day and KeyBank. Vocon provides services through three business entities: Vocon Design, Vocon Architecture and Vocon Partners. For more information about Vocon, visit www.vocon.com.

Media Contacts

Celia Solloway, csolloway@jcfcleve.org or 216.593.2794

Cristy Cote, ccote@fallscommunications.com or 216.696.0229

Food Stamp Challenge Participants Share Brown Bag Lunch and Conversation with SNAP Recipients at Children’s Hunger Alliance

The Jewish Federation of Cleveland has organized a team of volunteers to take the Food Stamp Challenge and better understand what it’s like to live on the average weekly food stamp benefit of $31.50.

The group–primarily comprised of Federation volunteers and professionals–will meet with current SNAP recipients, including Tonya Martin-Penn (a mother of four, whose husband lost his job after a devastating car accident) at the Children’s Hunger Alliance’s midtown offices (3634 Euclid Avenue, Suite 200, Cleveland, Ohio 44115) at noon on Wednesday, December 14.

Warren L. Wolfson, Chair of the Federation’s Community Relations Committee (CRC) is taking the Challenge this year. “The goal is getting people to pay active attention to the real crisis of hunger and poverty all around us and take action now to support federal programs that do make a difference,” said Wolfson.

Debra Parmer, Vice President of Regional Operations for the Children’s Hunger Alliance, started the Challenge on Sunday. After only two days, Parmer has already noticed a significant change in herself: not only is she more focused on food than ever before; she finds herself to be generally unhappy. Parmer spoke of the profound impact the Challenge has already had on her: “I work in the community and see hunger facing the children we work with everyday. I wanted to experience what others, without my choices or options, must go through. This has been a powerful experience for me.”

The team joins interfaith community activists across the country, that have already taken the Challenge, and together are sending a resounding message to legislators about the crisis of hunger in our own communities and across our nation.

The week-long challenge is part of the Fighting Poverty with Faith mobilization, which the Jewish Council for Public Affairs co-chairs with the National Council of Churches and Catholic Charities and includes more than 50 national faith groups as partners.

The objective is twofold: to send a message to legislators about the importance of supporting the SNAP program (formerly known as Food Stamps) that currently reaches more than 45 million Americans with vital nutrition assistance and last year kept almost 4 million from falling into poverty, and to understand what it’s like to live on the average weekly benefit of $31.50. 

See the daily challenges of the current participants. For general information on the program visit: www.foodstampchallenge.com.

Visit www.jewishcleveland.org to see the ways the Federation is working to alleviate hunger in Cleveland and for information on ways you can help. 

Cleveland, OH––The Jewish Federation of Cleveland has organized a team of volunteers to take the Food Stamp Challenge and better understand what it’s like to live on the average weekly food stamp benefit of $31.50.

The group–primarily comprised of Federation volunteers and professionals–will meet with current SNAP recipients, including Tonya Martin-Penn (a mother of four, whose husband lost his job after a devastating car accident) at the Children’s Hunger Alliance’s midtown offices (3634 Euclid Avenue, Suite 200, Cleveland, Ohio 44115) at noon on Wednesday, December 14.

Warren L. Wolfson, Chair of the Federation’s Community Relations Committee (CRC) is taking the Challenge this year. “The goal is getting people to pay active attention to the real crisis of hunger and poverty all around us and take action now to support federal programs that do make a difference,” said Wolfson.

Debra Parmer, Vice President of Regional Operations for the Children’s Hunger Alliance, started the Challenge on Sunday. After only two days, Parmer has already noticed a significant change in herself: not only is she more focused on food than ever before; she finds herself to be generally unhappy. Parmer spoke of the profound impact the Challenge has already had on her: “I work in the community and see hunger facing the children we work with everyday. I wanted to experience what others, without my choices or options, must go through. This has been a powerful experience for me.”

The team joins interfaith community activists across the country, that have already taken the Challenge, and together are sending a resounding message to legislators about the crisis of hunger in our own communities and across our nation.

The week-long challenge is part of the Fighting Poverty with Faith mobilization, which the Jewish Council for Public Affairs co-chairs with the National Council of Churches and Catholic Charities and includes more than 50 national faith groups as partners.

The objective is twofold: to send a message to legislators about the importance of supporting the SNAP program (formerly known as Food Stamps) that currently reaches more than 45 million Americans with vital nutrition assistance and last year kept almost 4 million from falling into poverty, and to understand what it’s like to live on the average weekly benefit of $31.50.

To see the daily challenges of the current participants, visit:  http://jewishcleveland.wordpress.com/category/food-stamp-challenge/.

For general information on the program visit: www.foodstampchallenge.com.

Visit www.jewishcleveland.org to see the ways the Federation is working to alleviate hunger in Cleveland and for information on ways you can help.

— Jewish Federation of Cleveland —