On July 30, Long Island women will join together at the Glen Head Country Club for JAFCO’s 6th annual “Fun in the Sun” fundraising event, in the hopes of bring a little more sun to the lives of children in need.
The organization, which stands for Jewish Adoption and Care Options, provides care for abused and neglected children as well as children with disabilities.
Following the non-profit’s inception in 1992, it created the Jewish Children’s Village, located in Sunrise, Fla. in 2003 to provide housing for at-risk children who have been removed from their homes following police reports for problems such as parental drug abuse or domestic violence.
“Our long range goal is to try to duplicate a village like that in the northeast,” said Pearl Halegua, JAFCO’s Long Island Chapter president.
In the interim, she said, the organization is expanding with new offices in the New Jersey and Philadelphia area.
In 2014, the organization expanded opened the Children’s Ability Center to help families with children with severe disabilities, according to Halegua.
The facility, she said, both works to teach life skills to the kids as well as provide parents with specialized care for their children while they take the time to get out for the day, do chores, or even take a vacation.
“It’s very modern, and it doesn’t look like institutional type of setting,” Halegua said. “It created awareness about the special needs of these children of these children and the addressed the need of the caretaker.”
Halegua, an Old Westbury resident, said she got involved with the organization at the suggestion of her sister-in-law’s brother, JAFCO founder Ronald Simon.
In 2010, she began working on her own to plan the “Fun in the Sun” fundraiser out of her own home.
But now, with the event having grown to over 160 attendees, she works with a larger committee, composed of board members from the New York area, to plan the event.
In addition to Halegua, board members include Alexis Kaminoff Fritz, Rose Schecter, Kim Floam, Ronna Niederman, Dorine Wulwick, Lisa Levine, Linda Moskowitz, Susan Tashlik and Amy Levy.
“We’re growing. It’s a nice bunch of women who are serious about doing stuff for the community,” Halegua said. “The tone of the event is about the kids and why we’re there.”
The July 30 event will not only include a luncheon, card games, yoga, and vendors for shopping, but will also include a speaker to inform people and educate people about JAFCO’s mission and bring awareness to number of kids needing support from the organization.
This year’s speaker will be Michelle Ross, a foster/adoptive parent who has adopted a child from the organization.
“It takes a village to raise a child, and there are a lot of kids out there who need a village” Halegua said.
JAFCO Director Sarah Franco said about 20 percent of the organization’s $5 million budget comes from fundraisers like the “Fun in the Sun” event, as well as private donations. The 2014 event yielded $35,000 in net proceeds, she said.
“We believe that the care of abused and neglected children is a community responsibility,” Franco said.
Franco said that without the organization’s volunteers, the organization would be lost.
“It really is philanthropy at its best,” she said. “People feel so good about helping, and it brings social services back to the way it was centuries ago.”
