JCRS announces Chanukah gifts program

The Jewish Children’s Regional Service (JCRS) will be providing Chanukah gifts to eligible Jewish youth experiencing financial difficulties throughout its coverage area from the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.

Each child or youth who is enrolled in the program will receive eight small gifts, one for each night of Chanukah. In addition, each will receive a gift card to one of several department stores that they indicate on their registration form, but the form must be received no later than August to guarantee a gift card. Gifts will be selected and sorted as early as August, and most of the gift wrapping program is expected to be completed at the all-day Annual Gift Wrapathon on Sunday, September 25, 2016, at the Goldring/Woldenberg Jewish Community Campus in Metairie.

JCRS established the Oscar J. Tolmas Chanukah Gift Program last year and provided gift sets to 211 Jewish youths and 30 adults in state hospitals. Thousands of gifts were purchased, sorted, wrapped and shipped to children, youths and institutionalized adults.

Interested Jewish families need to contact JCRS as soon as possible to ensure there is a timely reply. Applications are not lengthy, but must be filled out for each child in order to establish age and gift interests, as well as to determine the best family contact information.

To request an application, email here. To volunteer to wrap gifts on September 25, email bonnie@jcrs.org. , For more information, check the JCRS website. The address is 3500 North Causeway Blvd., #1120, Metairie, LA 70002, and the toll free phone number is 1-800-729-5277.