Feeding and serving the community

“Your neighbors are struggling,” reads the flier on the homepage of the Jewish Community Council of the Rockaway Peninsula. Founded in 1972, the JCCRP has worked to provide important services to those in need, regardless of their religious affiliations.

“The JCCRP has been molded to serve as a single stop, in order for our clients to receive all of their services in one location,” said Moshe Brandsdorfer, the organization’s executive director. “In this past year, our social services programs, in combination with our kosher client choice food pantry assisted over 4,500 clients with 42,000 services.”

The list includes: career counseling, crisis intervention, landlord and tenant mediation, the kosher client choice food pantry, legal assistance, medical insurance enrollment, Medicare advocacy, supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) and Holocaust survivor care.

“The food pantry is one of the hidden gems of the community,” said Richard Altabe, the JCCRP’s chairman of the board of directors. “We have clients that represent the full gambit of people in Far Rockaway … The people who go there are treated with respect, the poor shouldn’t have to feel like beggars, people need to be supported.”

Naamah Adelman is the food pantry director, and a senior case manager. Adelman works closely with clients, making sure they get whatever assistance they need, “I love that my job consists of helping people in my community,” she said. “I help community members with applying for assistance with rental arrears and utility shut-offs. I work with several agencies to help the client reach a zero-dollar balance and self-sufficiency. I also refer clients for legal assistance, SNAP enrolment, health insurance enrolment, financial counseling.”

Altabe explained that nearly all the funding comes from the United Jewish Appeal, the largest philanthropy in the world, and government grants. Brandsdorfer noted a $65,000 grant from the Jewish Federations of North America. He said he’s looking forward to seeing what can be done for the 300 Holocaust survivors they serve with the money.

On April 29, the JCCRP held their annual legislative breakfast, more than 400 people attended to recognize the organization’s work. Awards were presented to State Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Rockaway Beach) and New York City Councilman Chaim Deutsch for their dedication to working with the JCCRP.

The morning’s final distinction, the Audrey Pheffer Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Altabe. Pheffer, Amato’s mother, held the Assembly seat for 25 years before her daughter. She presented the award to Altabe for his more than 25 years of involvement, seven of which have been as chairman.

He is the lower school principal at the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach in Woodmere and helped to establish the TOVA (Torah Viable Alternatives) Mentoring program in Cedarhurst. Based on the Big Brother/Big Sister concept, it’s an Orthodox Jewish program that matches up students with young adults to help them overcome the challenges they face. Altabe is also vice president of CAHAL (Community Acting to Heighten Awareness and Learning) a yeshiva-based program of self-contained classes for children with learning differences from kindergarten through high school, also in Cedarhurst.

Altabe accepted the award but made it clear that he’s far from finished. “I’m not at the point where I feel that I have a lifetime of achievements,” said the 30-year Far Rockaway resident. “I have no plans of stopping.”

For more about the JCCRP, go to www.jccrp.org.