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JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OPENS FACILITY IN PASSAIC

Clifton Journal - 7/6/2018

PASSAIC -- A counseling center established decades ago on the tenets of the Jewish faith officially opened in a new facility on June 24 to serve an ever-growing and diverse clientele.

Staff at the Jewish Family Service & Children's Center of Clifton-Passaic welcomed 100 guests to the 10,000-square-foot building for a ceremony punctuated when dignitaries and donors cut a ribbon at the entrance to the Main Avenue facility.

The 25-room facility is named for philanthropist and former U.S. Rep. Herb Klein and his late wife, Jacqueline.

The facility, which cost $3 million to buy and renovate, is twice as large as the non-profit agency's previous office space, which it rented at a bank in Clifton, said Esther East, its executive director. Before that, it was at Clifton'sTri-County Jewish Community Center.

"The journey from our small office at the Y to independence and larger quarters -- and now to our own home -- parallels the growth of the agency and its importance to the community," Francesca Liechenstein, president of its board of trustees, said to those who attended the ceremony.

The agency offers services for children and adults, including crisis intervention, domestic-violence counseling, family counseling, geriatric care and mental-health counseling. Its basement features a kosher food pantry.

Jewish Family Service received a $5,000 grant this year for homelessness prevention from Gannett Foundation, the charitable arm of Gannett Co. Inc., the parent company of The Record and NorthJersey.com. The agency - one of 14 such organizations making up a network across New Jersey - also relies on federal and state grants and funding from United Jewish Campaign and United Way Worldwide.

Klein, who celebrated his 88th birthday on June 24, said Jewish Family Service was a source of pride for his wife, who died last year due to complications of Alzheimer's disease.

A portrait of Jacqueline Klein hangs near the vestibule of the agency's new building.

About the facility, Klein said to guests: "It's as much as I expected - and, so much - and even more. It's a fabulous building, a fabulous place for the work Jewish Family Service does. I'm so very, very excited."

The ceremony was attended by several politicians, including Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., Passaic City Council president and state Assemblyman Gary Schaer, Passaic Mayor Hector Lora, Councilman Daniel Schwartz and Clifton Mayor James Anzaldi. Carole Johnson, commissioner of the state Department of Human Services, also was on hand.

Pascrell said the agency's work is significant because it serves a diverse city.

"So you take in everyone," Pascrell said during his brief address. "This is our message today. If you think you can get away with not, you'll turn your back on what you believe and what your values are."

Rabbi Michael Bleicher, one of the agency's social workers, said it serves more than 1,100 clients per year, about 70 percent of whom are Jewish.

According to the congressman's press secretary, Pascrell has twice helped to secure federal grants for Jewish Family Service: $200,000 for its "aging-in-place" initiative in 2005, and $297,000 for Project SARAH -- or Stop Abusive Relationships at Home -- seven years later.

Email: devencentis@northjersey.com