The Jewish Family Services of Middlesex says they are in urgent need of funding, and it is asking for the public's help.
The Jewish Family Services of Middlesex County (JFS) is seeking the public's help in raising funds that the group says it desperately needs to continue providing services to its Holocaust survivors.
JFS, The Jewish Federation and the Jewish Family & Children's Services in Monmouth have teamed up and created a crowdfunded campaign to raise funds JFS says are essential in maintaining its services, according to Sara Levine, executive director for JFS, in a recent statement about the funding campaign.
Together, the three groups are looking to raise $250,000 for "emergency and targeted support for Holocaust survivors," the statement said.
Additionally, The Jewish Federation has pledged to match every public contribution up to $75,000 that is made by May 12.
JFS, based in Milltown, provides numerous services -- including home health aides, hand-delivered hot meals, socialization programs, transportation -- to the county's 185 Holocaust survivors. But the main and most expensive service JFS provides is home care to the sick and the elderly, the statement said.
As the survivors age, however, Levine said the demand for support and services has continued to grow.
The decline in funding, she added, is "significantly limiting the care that survivors are able to receive in Middlesex County."
"Existing services," she said, "to survivors have already been scaled back, and other survivors who require new services or who have just been identified will be added to a waitlist."
Some of the survivors, according to Levine, have no family, and solely rely on JFS' services.
"The need is very urgent," she said.
For more information on the campaign and how to donate, visit give2gether.com.
The website also has videos with additional information, and interviews with Holocaust survivors.
Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.