Like many parents in Westchester, I spend a lot of time driving kids to activities, coordinating schedules, and trying to carve out meaningful family time in between. A few years ago, after stepping away from a long career in finance, I started thinking more deeply about how I wanted to spend my time outside of work and family life.
I was first introduced to JCCA through my involvement with UJA-Federation of New York. Through the monthly ‘lunch bunch’ program, a group of volunteers from UJA would visit residential foster care cottages at JCCA’s residential foster care campus, where youth receive therapeutic, educational, and emotional support. I initially joined a Lunch Bunch that visited a girls’ cottage and quickly realized how much these visits mattered.
The kids remembered who showed up. They remembered conversations from previous months. They looked forward to the visits in a way that stayed with me long after I left campus. After a while, I started thinking: What if I brought together my own group of friends to do this too?
Last fall, I reached out individually to women from different parts of my life—Jessica Levinson, Amy Kessler, Arielle Diskin, Andrea Burinescu, Letal Ackerman and Sara Gubenko—and asked if they’d be interested in volunteering together. Many of them didn’t know one another beforehand, but every single one immediately said yes.
Now, once a month, our group visits a boys’ cottage on campus. Most recently, we visited on April 29. We bring lunch, organize activities, celebrate birthdays and holidays, and spend time with the teens. Some months we play games. Some months we just sit and talk. The details change, but the goal stays the same: showing up consistently.
When people ask me why I keep doing it, I often say that I started this as a simple way to give back, but it’s become so much more, both for the kids and for me and my girlfriends. It’s about showing up, building relationships, and making sure these young people know they’re seen and supported. And honestly, the boys are incredible. They are funny, energetic, welcoming, and always excited to participate. Every visit reminds me how important connection and consistency can be for young people.
What has surprised me most is how meaningful this experience has become for my friendships. In today’s world, it’s easy for friendships to revolve around quick texts, carpools, or rushed dinners squeezed into busy schedules. This has given us something deeper to share. We plan together, problem-solve together, and experience something meaningful together every month.
The volunteer work has also become important for my family. My oldest son, now 13, has started volunteering on campus too, playing board games and spending time with the teens. My younger children already talk about volunteering there when they are old enough.
As parents, we all want our children to grow up understanding empathy, gratitude, and responsibility. I want my kids to understand that there is a world beyond the bubble we live in—and that even small acts of kindness can matter.
Over time, our involvement has expanded beyond monthly visits. Around the holidays, we help organize gifts and celebrations for the cottages. Last year, volunteers and kids worked together on a bake sale fundraiser that helped send some youth on a trip to an amusement park.
One thing I’ve learned through this experience is that there are so many people in our community quietly giving back every single day. There are countless volunteers from across New York involved with JCCA—men, women, and teens—and it’s inspiring to see how many people are willing to show up for the kids on the residential campus.
People often think volunteering has to mean making a huge commitment or changing your entire schedule. But sometimes it can be as simple as one afternoon a month. One lunch. One conversation. One group of friends deciding to do something meaningful together.
For me, what started as a volunteer opportunity became something much bigger: a reminder of how powerful a community can be when people choose to show up consistently for one another.
