West Hartford Establishes Partnership With Jewish Family Services

Jewish Family Services, which provides an array of human services to the community at large, has created a new partnership with the Town of West Hartford.

“It’s all with the goal of helping individuals and families improve their lives and embrace possibility in their lives,” said Anne Danaher, the nonprofit’s chief executive officer.

That partnership recently showed itself when Mayor Shari Cantor hosted the nonprofit’s annual Rise Against Hunger event at her own home, on Nov. 12. The event typically raises around $100,000 for the organization’s Anja Rosenberg Kosher Food Pantry.

“I saw the excitement and the generosity of our community," Cantor said about her willingness to host the event at her own residence. “This is where we really shine. We have people who are so generous and want to help people that are in need. It’s a great way to connect those two dynamics.”

Fundraisers like these, said Danaher, go a long way toward helping the three main services they provide: counseling, community education, and support programs like the food pantry, clothing program, and employment transition. They serve children as young as four years old and adults as old as 102.

While the town and Jewish Family Services have lent each other a helping hand in the past, that partnership is now formal. Cantor said it made sense to partner together to better help community members in need.

“Government and the towns are limited in what they can provide to their residents," Cantor said. “We try to do as much as we can. But we can’t be as flexible or as comprehensive in our assistance as we’d like to be. We have this incredible resource with Jewish Family Resources that provides a lot of different touches to different people with different needs. To marry those, and to have those connected whether it’s food or clothing... it will exponentially help our residents.”

Danaher said in the past she’s seen the partnership play out in a few ways, like them sharing items from their food pantry to the town’s food pantry. It goes both ways, she said, and she’s excited to see the partnership become more formal.

“We’ve always worked with the Town of West Hartford,” Danaher said. “We refer clients back and forth. The town provides services to our clients. It was a natural process to formalize the partnership in a stronger way than we have in the past."

The Anja Rosenberg Kosher Food Pantry

The woman overseeing the food pantry that benefits from Rise Against Hunger is Pia Rosenberg Toro, who is also president of the nonprofit’s Board of Directors.

The pantry, named after her mother Anja Rosenberg, was founded by her family in 2006. Her father, Gene Rosenberg, named it after his wife.

“My parents have a passion to help people in need,” said Rosenberg Toro. “People who are hungry have always driven them to help.”

Jewish Family Services, she said, often operates under the radar. But they want that to change, and events like Rise Against Hunger help promote what it does to even more people.

“We’re trying to make sure that we’re no longer quiet and that people understand that what we do is essential," Rosenberg Toro said. "It’s grown every year and has been very successful in raising money and awareness for the pantry and for all of the clients that use the pantry. Right here in West Hartford is where the biggest need is. It’s frightening to think of that, because when you think of West Hartford, you don’t think that’s where the need is.”

Rise Against Hunger is always held at a private residence, she said, giving the event a very personal feeling that they think makes the event special.

“Members of the community are very gracious in opening their home,” Danaher said.

The pantry, being kosher, makes it a unique charitable outlet. It means that those who keep kosher, but are in need, don’t have to sacrifice anything to continue living their lives the way they choose to. The pantry can provide them kosher foods that other pantries might be unable to. In all, it gives out 90,000 pounds of food a year. It also gives out toiletries and cleaning supplies.

They plan on bringing both the food pantry and clothing program, which is called Tara’s Closet, outward to the community. Working with the town, they’ve identified senior housing developments where residents could use their services, but have trouble traveling to them.

“It’s just another way to create more visibility and more understanding about the needs residents face in the community,” Danaher said.

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