Barbara Sue's Story: "People Making a Difference for People"
By Amy Kaufman
Jewish Review
Barbara Sue Cohen always has been a resourceful person. She was a hospital administrator, s pecializing in performance improvement at the management level when her doctor recommended that she curtail her working hours.
Cohen then took a part-time job in a home for developmentally disabled adults and lobbied businesses to create positions for them. As her health deteriorated, she tried various jobs until it became too painful to sit in a chair for more than five minutes.
She applied for disability benefits, but while she was waiting for a determination from Social Security she had no income at all. She knew that if she didn't get help soon, she would be out on the street.
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Simons Reclaims Life with Help from JFCS
By Deborah Moon Seldner
Jewish Review
Nearly three years after he stepped into a busy street not caring if he reached the other side, John Simons is ready to begin a new life in Israel, thanks to the assistance he has received from Jewish Family and Child Service.
"Without Jewish Family and Child Service, God only knows what would have happened to me," said Simons, 55. With that help, Simons now plans to make aliyah within the month and start a new life in Israel as Yoni Reuben, creator of a human relations teaching program for teens.
Simons said he decided to share his story of tragedy and recovery to remind the community that disaster has the potential to strike anyone.
"No one is immune to tragedy, regardless of their socioeconomic class," said Simons. "This community tends to take affluence for granted. But, tragedy can affect anyone at any time—9/11 demonstrated that. ? By providing a high level of support for JFCS, the community gets itself an insurance policy."
"It's important to have help available," he said. "But it's also important for people to feel comfortable to ask for help."
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