Welcome to Humans of JF&CS! Periodically, we will be featuring two different staff members to highlight the amazing work they do.

Behind our 40+ programs are compassionate, committed, and dedicated staff who care deeply about our mission and our agency. With this broad range of programs comes a team of staff members with diverse interests, passions, and skills, who all share a deep commitment to improve people's lives. We hope these staff spotlights give you a taste of the incredible individuals behind our services and a sense of the deep compassion and dedication they bring every day.

Angela Waring

I am the Recreation and Respite Program manager, which means I have a lead role in the Kids' Connection Corner, which is a respite group for kids with autism. I am also in charge of the HALO Sunday Swim & Sing program. Our programs are held on Sunday and when I say I work on Sunday, people are like "ugh, why?" But once you're there, it is a totally consuming, silly, goofy way to spend your Sunday and it is just so fun.

I think a lot of our success stories are kids making friends in the programs and something as simple as a child saying to me, "He remembered my name!" Some things that we might consider small successes are considered huge successes for our participants. The work itself is really rewarding. We played a game of red light green light and one little boy walked up to everyone, shook their hands, looked them in the eye and said, "Good game, good game." In any other setting that would be a little unusual or a little forced but he was just so happy to be playing the game and didn't care who won or who lost.

Ira Schor

Among the things I am most proud of is having developed and implemented many staff training and development opportunities over the years. Examples include the Introduction to Management series, various management discussion and reading groups, and several forums for staff education and support such as the Ethics Committee. In providing services to vulnerable populations, our staff are often faced with ethical conflicts and the need to conduct a harms analysis. In addition to assisting staff faced with these challenging circumstances, the Ethics Committee has been a great opportunity to promote cross-program and cross-discipline collaboration and advance our collective knowledge.