JEWISH FEDERATION OF PALM BEACH COUNTY

Community Volunteers Help Resettle 'New Americans'

More than 100 concerned and caring residents of Palm Beach County turned out, in the rain, to volunteer their time and talents to help in the resettlement of the first of an expected 80 Soviet Jews who will soon be arriving from Ladispoli, Italy to take up their lives as "New Americans" in this community.

The Morse Geriatric Center generously offered the use of their brand-new auditorium for the Volunteer Recruitment meeting, organized by the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County and the Jewish Family & Children's Service, the funding and coordinating agencies, respectively, for this community­wide project. In keeping with the community outpouring of support, the Jew­ish Community Day School will allow the Soviet children to attend classes and the Jewish Community Center will provide free memberships for each family.

With the help of a large number of volunteers, the goal of the Federation's Russian Resettlement Committee is to enable the "New Americans" to become self-sufficient and productive citizens of the community within a four-month period after their arrival.

Volunteers are needed in each of seven task forces: Buddy Families, Employment Services, Maintenance Assistance & Housing, Health and Medical, Social Adjustment Activities/Jewish Acculturation, English Language Training and Case Management.

The Chairs of each Volunteer Task Force were on hand at the meeting to present the audience with an overview of the nature of their various responsibilities. A short summary follows:

Buddy Families - Angela Lampert, Chair. Four buddy families are be­ing sought for each Soviet family, each to be with the immigrant family one week per month for four months. The buddy family will provide friendship, guidance and assistance to the new arrivals, starting with meeting them at the airport, taking them shop­ping, explaining everyday things such as banking and use of the telephone, providing transportation to appoint­ments, and hosting the family for a holiday. Families with young children are particu­larly needed.

Employment Services - Stanley Brenner, Chair. The objective of this task force is to secure employment for all able-bodied adults and children out of school. Work­ing with the JF & CS vocational counselor, these volun­teers will be responsible for assisting in teaching the "New Americans" about the Palm Beach County job market and American work environment and in the utilization of want ads, network­ing, developing resumes and completing applications. They will help assess the immigrants skills, devise job plans and set up job interviews.

Health and Medical - Dr. Eric Weiner, Chair. The objective of this task force is, simply put, to secure appropriate and timely health and medical services for the "New Americans." Volunteers are needed to provide one year of free services, from among the following health care professions: pharmacists, therapists, dentists, physicians and paramedics. Additionally, a pool of profession­als will be established, i.e. lawyers, accountants, etc., who will provide services free or at a nominal cost for a one-year period. Volunteers must be prepared to be "on call" to contact the medical community if needed.

Maintenance Assistance & Housing - Herbert Brock, Chair. In addition to securing and providing housing for the "New Americans," these volunteers will be required to furnish and prepare apartments from donations, pur­chase food and basic necessities, make sure all appliances are working and explain their use, and make sure that apartments are clean.

Social Adjustment/Jewish Acculturation - Rabbi Leonid Feldman, Chair. This task force's objective is to secure a quick and pleasant integration of the "New Americans" into the West Palm Beach community. Volunteers will be encouraged to invite the Russian families for social activities into their homes and to community events and religious observances. All synagogues have been asked to participate by inviting the "New Americans" to religious services and special events.

Other social adjustment activities will involve explaining and showing the use of libra­ries and universities in the community, arranging for sightseeing tours of the community and synagogues, preparing welcome baskets and arranging cooking classes, among other activities.

English Language Training - Shirlee Blonder, Chair. Wherever feasible, English classes through the public school system will be utilized to teach the "New Americans" English. There will be cases, however, when tutors will be needed for this pur­pose, such as for employed persons who cannot attend daytime classes or those having trouble in ESL (English as a. second language) classes. Volunteers also will be needed to register children at the Jewish Community Day School and at public high schools and notifying school principals of same. Additionally, volunteers will provide transportation to and from all activities related to schooling, except where transportation has been provided by the Service Agency.

Case Management - Miriam Schwartz, Chair. This task force will work closely with the professional social service team at the Jewish Family & Children's Service (under the supervision of Susan Fleischer) to help provide adequate social ser­vice necessities to all "New Americans." Volunteers will set up and organize appointments for the Soviet families to meet with the JF & CS director and staff and accompany them on their initial in­terviews at State and Federal agencies, i.e., Social Security, Medicaid, Food Stamps, etc. Volunteer caseworkers will at­tend brief, twice-weekly meet­ings to assess the adjustment of the new families. They will show families how to take buses, the location of important buildings such as the Post Office, library, banks and so. forth, and how to spend money within their established budget. With the first "New American" families scheduled to arrive in the Palm Beaches by mid-April, many volunteers, of all ages, are still needed to staff these vital task forces. Especially needed are families with young children and those who speak Russian.  To volunteer, please contact Sherrie Raz, Project Director/ Russian Resettlement Program, JF & CS, at 684-1991.

More than 100 attended the Russian Resettlement Volunteer Re­cruitment Meeting at the Morse Geriatric Center.

 Richard Jorandby and Leonard Hanser, Russian Resettlement Committee members, reviewing job descriptions of the English Language Volunteer Task Force.