In honor of National Volunteer Month, JFCS is proud to introduce our Volunteer Spotlights! Quarterly, we'll introduce you to one of the wonderful volunteers who works tirelessly to improve the lives of our clients.
Volunteer Spotlight (July 2025):
Jessica Yao and Karla Nuciforo
Volunteering with JFCS doesn’t always require grand actions—sometimes, it begins with the simplest of gestures. Meet two dedicated volunteers whose handmade birthday and holiday cards bring joy and connection to our Older Adult and Holocaust Survivor clients.
Jessica Yao, a rising high school senior from Mount Laurel, began volunteering with JFCS in March 2022, when she was just thirteen. Inspired by her father and older brother, who served as personal shoppers for JFCS during the pandemic, Jessica wanted to find her own meaningful way to give back.
Each month, Jessica creates a batch of imaginative, one-of-a-kind birthday cards for our Older Adult clients. Her artistic talent shines through in every card, which she designs around seasonal themes and holidays to make each one feel special and heartfelt.
Jessica is motivated by the thought that her cards bring a smile or stir a happy memory for someone who may be feeling isolated. Her goal is simple but powerful: to remind clients that they are seen, valued, and remembered. As a teen volunteer, Jessica shows how even small acts of kindness can have a lasting, meaningful impact.
Karla Nuciforo joined JFCS as a volunteer in October 2024. She lives in Somerdale with her husband, mother, and three beloved pets. After working in medical billing and customer service, Karla was diagnosed with a chronic medical condition that eventually made it difficult for her to leave home. In 2019, she stepped away from the workforce. When her therapist—a former JFCS social worker—suggested volunteering with JFCS, Karla found a perfect fit creating holiday cards for our clients.
Art has always been Karla’s passion, and card-making has become a deeply therapeutic and meaningful outlet. Though she was raised Catholic, Karla has taken the time to learn about Jewish holidays and traditions so she can create culturally sensitive and beautiful cards. She even purchased special stencils featuring Judaic symbols to incorporate into her handmade designs.
Each of Karla’s cards is a work of art—thoughtfully detailed and lovingly crafted. Her cards bring brightness and warmth to our holiday deliveries and let our clients know they are cherished. Karla says she loves helping people feel seen, especially those “who might feel unseen or lost in the fold.” Her warmth, empathy, and artistic gifts make every card a true mitzvah.
Together, Jessica and Karla show us that kindness doesn’t require big gestures—just a big heart. We are so grateful for their dedication and creativity, which bring light and love into the lives of our clients, one card at a time.
Volunteer Spotlight (March 2025): Robbie Lunsk
Robert first began volunteering with JFCS in March 2024. He and his wife, Barbara, live in Cherry Hill, where they raised their three children. Their youngest daughter, Jen Gerstein, currently serves as a Vice President on the JFCS Board of Directors. Robert is the President and Founder of United Production Group, a global event management and production company. Robert became inspired to volunteer with JFCS after watching video about the Disabilities Department while attending “Stepping Out with JFCS,” the agency’s annual fundraiser. Robert chose to become a volunteer with the TOPS day habilitation program, spending several hours each week with the clients. To date, he has volunteered more than 150 hours with TOPS. Robert wanted to do something “special” with the clients. Using his professional background and creative talents, he is working with TOPS clients and staff on producing a show, which also is an adaptation of a children’s book he authored. The show’s message is about how everyone is different and learning to embrace one’s unique abilities. Robert is volunteering his time to help the TOPS clients be involved with every aspect of the show, from practicing lines, costuming, and musical arrangement to technical blocking and videography. Robert says that he “looks forward to seeing the clients every week” and feels like he is “making a positive difference” to support our clients. In addition to his weekly volunteering with TOPS, Robert more recently has been volunteering with our Soups & Sweets culinary training program and soon will be involved with SOAR as well. He also just became a Friendly Visitor to a client of our Older Adult Services Department. JFCS staff members described Robert as “warm and approachable,” and emphasized that our clients “really love him,” affectionately referring to him as “Robbie.” Robert remarked that volunteering with JFCS has been “most fulfilling” and “changed his life!”
Volunteer Spotlight (January 2025): Mort Mekler
Born in Israel, Mort moved to New York after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. He was the Senior Director of Service Delivery at Broadridge Financial Services, Inc. and retired after devoting 38 years to the company. He currently lives in Cherry Hill and has been happily married to Judy Griffin for five years. Mort and Judy have a blended family totaling ten, along with grand-cats and grand-dogs. Since becoming a JFCS volunteer in August 2019, Mort has served in many capacities including holiday meal deliveries, grocery deliveries, Personal Shopper, Friendly Visitor, and as a driver for seniors and veterans in our Take the Wheel veterans transportation program. Mort shared that all of his clients are very appreciative of his service and that his most gratifying experience with our agency is with his Friendly Visitor client. Thank you, Mort, for your incredible dedication to our agency and clients. We are lucky to have you on our team!
Volunteer Spotlight (October 2024): Andrea Garber
Andrea Garber joined JFCS as a volunteer in February 2019. Andrea is a registered nurse who has dedicated more than 15 years to supporting patients and their families at the end of life as a hospice nurse. She has proven a valuable resource for so many JFCS clients. Andrea is a Patient Partners advocate taking clients to their doctor’s appointments and advocating for them in that setting. She has helped 4 separate Patient Partners clients including a Holocaust survivor. In addition to Patient Partners, Andrea has developed a beautiful relationship with a client as her Friendly Visitor. The client’s husband stated that Andrea is “a woman of compassion, sensitivity and intelligence…[who] makes his wife’s world a little brighter with each visit. She is a blessing we will never forget!”
Andrea also delivers kosher meals to senior clients, delivers holiday meals to survivors and other clients, provides transportation and support for our Hope and Healing program in Vineland, and stepped up to help provide transportation to support a displaced Israeli family after the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023. She has also been instrumental in the 5KRun/ 5KWalk 4 Family & Friends with Cancer that raised awareness and educated the community. They have raised more than $650,000 in funds supporting both JFCS and the Abramson Cancer Center / Penn Medicine for cancer research.
We are fortunate to have Andrea as a volunteer of our agency! Thank you for your dedication and passion to making our community a better place.
Volunteer Spotlight (July 2024): Mike Perloff
Mike has been volunteering for our agency for more than ten years. His passion for food insecurity brought him to our food pantry to help sort donations, stock shelves, and make grocery sets. When we moved to our new Rhona Fischer family assistance building, he helped purchase and build all the shelves that exists in the carriage house today. Monthly, Mike solicits and collects toiletries and cash donations from South Jersey Men’s Club for the pantry. He also provides handyman services to our senior clients, has helped build furniture for our Disability Services department and for Weinberg Commons. He has been involved with flagging events at Crescent Memorial Park annually. In addition to his volunteer work for JFCS, Mike is a past president of JCRC, participates as a volunteer for SAR-EL - Volunteers for Israel, and organizes collections for Israel. Recently, his collections provided much needed bullet proof vests to Israeli military. Thank you, Mike, for being part of our team and for all the incredible work you do for our agency, our clients, and the Jewish community!
Volunteer Spotlight (March 2024): Shana Myers Herring, Alec Herring, and Sydney Herring
Shana first came to our agency in February 2021 when she and her son, Alec Herring, delivered Purim treats and Passover meals as bite-size volunteers. They were immediately hooked and decided they wanted to get more involved! Shana was vetted in May 2021, and she was matched as a Personal Shopper, providing personalized food shopping for a client in her late nineties who no longer drives. Their relationship blossomed into much more than food shopping: this client became part of her family as they provided transportation to medical appointments, shopping excursions, and more. Shana’s daughter, Sydney, has provided technical support to help the client with her iPhone. The whole family has become Friendly Visitors for her, and they are excited to celebrate her next big birthday. Shana shared that while they started out looking to help someone in need, what they received in return is a relationship with a sharp, savvy, friend and family member. Every visit and conversation ends with “We love you.” Thanks to Shana for inspiring her children to do mitzvot - and thanks to the entire family for the beautiful relationship they have fostered.
Volunteer Spotlight (December 2023): Richard Chait
Richard Chait first came to JFCS in 2021 to offer his assistance through both our medical transportation program and the Take the Wheel veterans' program. Since then, he has provided more than 60 client rides, delivered hundreds of holiday and weekly kosher meals, delivered groceries to dozens of Betsy & Peter Fischer Food Pantry clients who live in outlying areas, and stepped up to provide rides for Patient Partners clients when other volunteers were unavailable. Richard has also driven clients to Vineland for Hope and Healing Holocaust Survivor programming.
One client shared that without Richard, she would have missed a very important medical appointment. From the time he arrived, he made her feel extremely comfortable. During the appointment, knowing he was there made her feel less anxious. After the appointment, he went above and beyond and helped her pick up her prescriptions. While driving her home, they had a great conversation about current events. Without Richard's comfort and humor, she would have been lost.
We are so lucky to have Richard as an integral part of our JFCS volunteer team. Thank you, Richard!
Volunteer Spotlight (July 2023): Don Dorfman
Meet Don Dorfman! Don started volunteering with JFCS in 2019. He is a veteran who served in the Korean War and is a proud member of the Jewish War Veterans. He attends our annual Flagging events and served as a "Take the Wheel" volunteer driver from 2019 to 2021. In 2020, Don began delivering holiday meals and weekly kosher meals to clients and has made 77 deliveries so far! Thank you, Don, for your service to our country, community, and clients! You are an inspiration to all.
Volunteer Spotlight (April 2023): Dick Knopf
Meet Dick Knopf! Dick first came to our agency in 1992 as a Friendly Visitor and has been matched with many clients over the last three decades. He has shown incredible patience with clients who are dealing with everything from life-threatening health conditions to memory issues. During COVID, he increased his volunteerism by delivering groceries for our Betsy and Peter Fischer Food Pantry. His wife, Rosalyn, often accompanies him and supports his volunteerism. Dick is active within the community as a member (and previous board member) of South Jersey Men’s Club. He is also involved with the Camden County Workforce Development Board and spent many years volunteering for JCRC's BookMates program.
Dick commented that "Volunteering is in my DNA! I get more out of volunteering than the clients receive. My favorite thing is the camaraderie with our clients; most are very lonely, and I find the personal connection with others very fulfilling."
Our agency has been blessed by his 30+ years of service, humor, patience, and devotion. Thank you, Dick, for all your hard work and dedication!
