It is with great sadness that Jewish Community Services of South Florida (JCS) acknowledges the horrific event last week in Minneapolis, resulting in the brutal death of George Floyd. We offer our sympathies to his family and friends. May Mr. Floyd’s memory be a blessing, and may we as a community heal and learn to prevent tragedies like this from happening again.

Our core values center around Tikkun Olam, repairing the world, one person at a time. We offer counseling and support services to those experiencing crisis or trauma.

JCS stands in solidarity with the Black community and supports accountability and justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Sean Reed, James Scurlock, David McAtee, and countless others whom we have lost through bigotry, violence and ignorance. These unjust deaths across the nation serve as painful reminders of inequality.

In this emotionally charged environment, we must lean on each other and provide the same empathy and support that we offer the people we serve each day. We are dedicated to healing, and serving our community’s needs and will continue to provide our clients with a single standard of high-quality care, as well as hope and confidence to create safe spaces, healing work, and positive change.

This is a time in our country’s history where we, as social service providers, and members of our diverse community must examine our social contract and increase our efforts to respect all people by providing worthy and inspiring opportunities for healing and respect as we emerge from this isolating pandemic.

Over the last 100 years, JCS has provided a compassionate and caring safety net of services for the frail and underserved treating every client equally without regard to – race, religion, age, or identity. We remain strong in our desire to keep the spirit of the members of our community alive and to speak as truthfully and meaningfully as possible to our ever changing world.