Chanukah Celebrations
Wow! What an incredible eight nights of amazing programming Friendship Circle participants took part in! Here’s just a small selection. COOKING CLASS FC Jr. director Esty Grossbaum hosted a virtual Doughnut Cooking Show for...
Category: General
Prestigious Jefferson Award Goes to …
Representing Friendship Circle and LifeTown, Toba and Rabbi Zalman Grossbaum were honored ea rlier this year with a New Jersey State Governor’s Jefferson Award. The award, which was started by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in...
safeTALK Speaks to Local Police Officers
Police officers from the Livingston and West Orange Police Departments were among the first people to attend safeTALK, a suicide-prevention workshop offered by Friendship Circle’s nascent UMatter program addressing mental health challenges. “The training...
Presidents Club Marks End of Successful Year
Sixty-five teens representing high schools across the region gathered at LifeTown earlier this week as they prepared for the end of the programming year. The students, all members of the FC President’s Club, have volunteered tirelessly...
Suiting Up for Swim Time
Construction on the second phase of LifeTown is getting underway, which means the indoor, zero-entry, therapeutic pool is soon to be a reality. The pool will have numerous interactive elements designed to foster movement...
Everyone Needs to Know, UMatter!
Friendship Circle is launching UMatter, a new initiative whose goal is to make sure that every person know that they matter. UMatter empowers teens to shatter the stigmas surrounding mental-health challenges through peer-to-peer projects...
Zooming into ‘Independence’
By Johanna Ginsberg Most Wednesday afternoons the scent of fudge brownies, chocolate cookies, and other sweet confections wafts through the Teicher home in Scotch Plains as Jonah Teicher, 12, bakes with his Friendship Circle...
Cheesecake Bakes a Shavuot Highlight
Dozens of people participated in online cheesecake baking workshops in advance of the holiday of Shavuot. For those who weren’t tempted to try it out on their own, Shabbat Kits that included additional Shavuot...
Cocktail Night Celebration
They may not have been able to turn out in person, but hundreds of people participated virtually in this year’s FC Cocktail Night event, which honored the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest, FC staffers...
Song’s Impact Hits All the Right Notes
Fingertips on ivory keys and smoky mist in the background as music cues louder. You can’t help but be transfixed by the emotional, evocative, powerful music unfolding before you. “I Am,” the Friendship Circle...