From hotline to life line

“Ezra” is the Hebrew word for “help.” And that is what the Dina and Eli Field EZRA Multi-Service Center has provided its community for four decades. 

To celebrate its 40th anniversary, EZRA hosted several events. Participants in its Center for Russian Speakers put on a talent show. At the JUF Uptown Cafe event, squares of a quilt made by its art-therapy clients were displayed, depicting EZRA’s meaning to them.  

In attendance at an open house were representatives of organizations with whom EZRA partners to serve its clients- food banks and hospitals, foundations and donors, state legislators and representatives, JUF President Lonnie Nasatir, and the Field’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as current and former clients and staffers. The events were catered by Zelda’s Catering, which provides the Cafe’s kosher meals.  

 

“The events were for those who have been with us on our 40-year journey,” said EZRA’s Director Heidi Kon. “And every journey needs a community to help you along.”  

A glance at EZRA’s calendar hints at the panoramic scope of their activities, from wellness programming to poetry, movies, cooking and gardening.   

Three quarters of EZRA’s clients fall below the poverty line, almost a third have a disability, and half are 60 or older. Four in ten are immigrants or refugees, many of whom benefit from EZRA’s Russian-language programs and services.  

To these needs, EZRA responds with diligence and dignity. From July 2022 to June 2023 alone, more than 1,700 clients visited case managers; Cafe patrons dined on more than 10,000 meals; pantry clients received nearly 4,000 bags of groceries; and more than $300,000 in emergency financial assistance was distributed.      

Over its 40 years, EZRA has grown to meet each new challenge. Founded by the Jewish Federation in 1983 as an information hotline, the agency moved into a storefront the following year to provide services in Edgewater, Uptown, and Lakeview. During the 1980s and 1990s, EZRA added Jewish programming, job training, and case management, and opened its food-and-hygiene pantry.   

 

Then, in 1998, JUF and EZRA opened the JUF Uptown Cafe, Chicago’s first kosher meal program. In addition to providing hot kosher meals in a restaurant-style setting, the JUF Uptown Cafe program brings dignity and hope to people in need. After volunteers serve clients their meals, clients are asked about their other needs, and offered additional help. EZRA also planted an organic community garden.   

“I was homeless many years ago,” recalled one client. “I had just had a stroke, but I knew that if I would have a predictable meal, I would be healthy. I am still here, and forever grateful to EZRA and the JUF Uptown Cafe.”  

In 2001, with a generous gift from the Fields, Federation purchased the Center’s current home: 909 West Wilson Avenue, in Uptown. Health screenings and social-action efforts were launched. The COVID pandemic shifted programming online, and emergency financial aid more than doubled. More recently, the Russian-speaking program has welcomed those fleeing the war in Ukraine.   

In July 2023, EZRA was fully absorbed into JUF, and its remaining administrative responsibilities shifted in-house; as EZRA is a program of JUF/JF, JUF has always been responsible for all grant writing, fundraising, facilities management, technology, and marketing, and- through TOV- ensuring volunteers for the Cafe.  

 

Having clients achieve self-sufficiency is one of EZRA’s main goals; to that end, it offers workshops in financial literacy, budgeting and housing.   

“I was in bad shape financially, and EZRA made an incredible contribution to my well-being. With the help that your organization provided, I will be able to slowly get back on my feet, with a roof over my head.” said another client.  

“From social events to financial assistance,” noted Marissa Comin, Associate Vice President of Community Outreach and Engagement at JUF, “every service EZRA provides also fosters a sense of community.”  

After 40 years, EZRA is still finding new ways to mean help.   

To learn more, visit juf.org/ezra.