Established nearly 100 years ago, Jewish Social Service Committee of Highland Park and New Brunswick, Inc. (JSS) has become the last resort for the “invisible Jewish poor,” providing short-term emergency financial aid to the neediest Jewish families in our community.

Referrals are made from community Rabbis, Jewish Family and Vocational Service (JFVS), and the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County. Two-thirds of requests come from desperate families on the verge of losing power. While most people try their best to solve problems on their own, many put off dealing with a tenuous situation. Delay makes JSS’s intervention more difficult as the bills pile up. JSS volunteer board members try to negotiate with utility companies for outstanding payments that can be as little as $130 to accumulated debt in the thousands.

JSS works together with other Jewish communal organizations to keep the lights on for vulnerable clients. JSS board members and volunteers deliver meals, check in on frail neighbors, offer pro bono expertise, and leverage their personal contacts to keep our Jewish community’s most vulnerable in their own homes, employed, and warm. The agency’s lack of promotion is by design, since the all-volunteer board comprehensively reviews each case to determine eligibility.