Jewish Women’s Endowment Fund Site Visits
Reins of Life Saves Psyches & St. Vincent de Paul Society Rescues the Struggling
Donna Ayres, President; Judy Wein, Grant Committee Chair; and Jewish Women’s Endowment Fund (JWEF) members Marsha Brook and Diane Sarnat conducted two site visits in July 2025 to see how their 2024 grants were being used.
Reins of Life
JWEF visited Reins of Life (ROL) on July 2 to see that their grant for $1500 helped ROL purchase a barrel for vaulting practice to enable children to learn their competitive gymnastic postures prior to performing them on a live horse.
Reins of Life serves the mission “to improve the quality of life for children and adults with disabilities through equine-assisted therapy.” Those with ADHD, anxiety, amputations, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, depression, Downs Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis, PTSD, and at-risk youth participate in a wide range of equine activities, including therapeutic horseback riding and carriage driving, interactive vaulting and equine-assisted psychotherapy – even “nuzzles and snuggles” with horses, dogs, and cats. The 400 children and adults who have weekly contact with a horse have improved or developed muscle control, strength and balance, cardio-respiratory function, appropriate emotional responses, self-coping methods, empathy and trust, concentration, sequencing, memory, self-esteem, self-image, basic learning, communication skills and interpersonal relationships while also practicing teamwork and leadership under the direction of the visionary Dr. Dorota Janik, Executive Director.
Visit reinsoflife.org or call at 574-232-0853 for more information.
St. Vincent de Paul Society
Donna Ayres, Judy Wein, and Marsha Brook visited St. Vincent de Paul Society’s food pantry in downtown South Bend on July 15 to watch how their $1,000 2024 grant for food was being used. Kristine Hilger, Executive Director, and Deb Horvath, food pantry supervisor, helped them witness how people choose their preferred items, e.g., red enchilada sauce, rice and beans, macaroni and cheese, potatoes, canned tomatoes and other vegetables, canned tuna and chicken, milk, cheese and eggs, as well as diapers, dish soap and laundry detergent, during their monthly visit with the help of some of their 500 volunteers. About fifty individuals/families come each Tuesday or Thursday.
St. Vincent’s conducted 5,461 food pantry visits in 2023-2034 with compassion and dignity to restore hope and prevent homelessness and hunger among the 272,000 St. Joe County, IN residents where nearly 18% of children live in poverty and 46% of families struggle to make ends meet. A family of four needs $72,000 just to survive today. St. Vincent’s also conducts home visits -- 6,237 homes in 2024 -- to offer personalized support to those who cannot come to the food pantry.
St. Vincent’s staff even encourages the homeless to come because they want everyone to feel supported and empowered – to live with dignity, hope, and choice. St. Vincent’s is there to help those in need tackle poverty or a sudden downturn in luck.
Those who want to help can host a food drive or offer a pantry sponsorship. for more information, visit svdpsb.org or call 574-234-6000.
Learn more about JWEF by contacting JWEF@TheJewishFed.org, or call the Federation’s Administrative Assistant, Dr. Louise, at (574) 233-1164, ext. 1820. We would love to talk with you about the good we have proudly done with even more grants.
Donna B. Ayres
President, Jewish Women’s Endowment Fund