by Debra Rubin
NJJN Bureau Chief/Middlesex

September 9, 2008

Aiming to make it easier for more people to take part in its programs and activities, the Jewish Family & Vocational Service of Middlesex County has moved its main offices from Edison to Milltown, a more centralized location.

“Now that we’re a countywide agency, I think it’s important that people have easy accessibility to our services and site,” said JFVS acting executive director Sara Levine.

Before a merger two years ago, JFVS served the northern part of the county, while Jewish Family Service of Southern Middlesex County was in operation in East Brunswick with a satellite office in Monroe.

The merged agency, which retained the name JFVS of Middlesex County, resulted in the closure of the East Brunswick office. The Monroe office remained open, with limited programming.

The Edison location made it difficult for many community members in the more southern reaches of the county — particularly seniors living in Monroe’s active adult communities — to get to JFVS programs and services.

So on Aug. 26, the agency closed its doors at the Metroplex building across from the Edison train station, and its staff began setting up shop in the United Way building at 32 Ford Ave. in Milltown.

Its new home opened on Aug. 28.

JFVS president Gary Steinbach , said, “This extended collaboration between the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County and JFVS will enable the agency to continue to provide social services to the Jewish community throughout Middlesex County.

“Our new headquarters, centrally located in Milltown, is a more appropriate base for bringing comprehensive services to those in need.”

To further enable more people to take advantage of its offerings, said Levine, the agency “may be going out into the community and looking for more outside sites. We definitely want to expand the Elderday program.” The Elderday at Edison program for adults with Alzheimer’s and other cognitive disorders, she added, is continuing at Temple Emanu-El in Edison.

JFVS operates the county’s only kosher food pantry and has two distribution sites for its kosher Meals on Wheels program — the Orchid restaurant in Metuchen and its Monroe facility. Among its services, the agency also offers adoption assistance, vocational training, counseling, a women’s center for women in transition, and immigration and refugee services.

JFVS is also in the process of implementing senior services in Highland Park through a $243,000 federal grant, obtained by the Middlesex federation, establishing a Naturally Occurring Retirement Community.

Federation president Lee Livingston said, “The mission of the federation is to steadfastly support the best delivery of services for members of our community. It is our goal to ensure a full range of services uninterrupted to all clients.”

JFVS has also begun running “a franchise” of Mission Control, a national program that teaches skills promoting productivity and stress reduction to corporate workers and others.

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YM-YWHA update

THE YM-YWHA of Raritan Valley, which temporarily moved its offices to Milltown two years ago after closing its dilapidated Highland Park facility, expects to go before the East Brunswick Planning Board in the fall with an application to build a new facility. Plans are to build a 60,000-square-foot Jewish community center on land the Y owns at 75 Dutch Rd., where it has operated its summer day camp and swim club for seven years.

In the meantime, the Y has a new neighbor on the second floor of the United Way building: Jewish Family & Vocational Service of Middlesex County, which recently moved its main office there from Edison.

“We will be sharing a kitchen and offices next to each other,” said JFVS acting executive director Sara Levine. Having the Y as a neighbor “will hopefully lead to some shared services and programming, maybe even some sort of community campus.

“It is an opportunity to bring the Jewish community even further together.”

— DEBRA RUBIN

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