Given a choice of where or to whom to leave money during our life or after our death, Jewish Family Service of San Diego was the winning contender. Because ours is a second marriage, we have separate funds and our backgrounds are different, leading to differing priorities. However, on making donations to JFS, we are in complete agreement.

Larry says: My gift to JFS is to help Jewish seniors who may be struggling to meet their daily expenses. It’s important to me because I know that the funds will make a difference in their lives. I believe that tzedakah is a basic tenet in the Jewish way of life.

Lainy says: My great-grandfather was the rabbi of a small town in the Ukraine. Judaism was important to my grandmother and she passed that on to her children and grandchildren. Until I was eight years old, we lived in a triplex above my grandparents’ wholesale grocery store – my family at one end, grandparents at the other. I would visit as my grandma made challah for Shabbat, hear her bless the candles, see my grandfather touch the floor with his forehead for high holy day prayers. I had 22 cousins in St. Louis and most Sundays we would gather at grandma and grandpa’s house. Judaism was a big part of my life. Attending Camp SWIG reinforced my love of Judaism. It was understood that I would marry a Jewish man and be involved in the Jewish community. So, leaving funds to a Jewish charity was an obvious choice to make a difference in the lives of those in need.