Author: Robyn

Jewish Care Scotland’s Spring Fayre was welcomed to May Terrace with a flurry of snow last week.  The weather didn’t put visitors off dropping by to browse a range of local entrepreneurs, makers and creators and the charity was delighted to welcome a host of new visitors and regulars alike.

Stallholders included Dear Green Candle Company, Philippa’s Boutique, Mona & Nettie, and Hearts ‘N Stars by Marticlare as well as charity Cosgrove, Cross stitch by Elaine Marks and Jewish Care Scotland’s own Knit and Natter group.

The Fayre was a great success with all visitors enjoying the opportunity to shop and support local businesses.  All sales from the JCS Knit and Natter stall, selling unique handcrafted items, were generously donated to Jewish Care Scotland and we are delighted to announce that over £180 was raised.  Huge thanks to all of our talented knitters, crocheters and creators and to everyone who supported the event.

Jack and Diane Kay held an exclusive whisky tasting event earlier this month as part of an ongoing fundraising drive for Jewish charities.  Jack of Whisky Barrel Judaica, and his wife Diane welcomed guests to their home to enjoy an intimate whisky tasting event in aid of Jewish Care Scotland.

The event, which saw guests sample a variety of Scotch whiskies and bid in an auction for whiskies, raised over £1,000 for the Giffnock-based charity.

In 2022, Jack established Whisky Barrel Judaica, a unique initiative which sees Jack handcraft one-off items from oak barrels previously used to store Scotch whisky including Mezuzot cases, Chanukiot and Challah boards in exchange for a donation to one of Jack’s three chosen charities.  Jack takes nothing for his work and Jewish Care Scotland, Chai Cancer Care and Magen David Adom are all lucky beneficiaries of Jack’s hard work.

Since 2022, Jack has created hundreds of individual items for happy customers in exchange for donations as well as hosting a Chanukah raffle to benefit all three charities.  This latest event has now seen Jack, Diane and Whisky Barrel Judaica raise a combined total of more than £10,500 for all three charities.

Of the recent whisky tasting event, Jack said, “This was a great way to raise funds for JCS – and a lot less effort than making my wooden Judaica! I will definitely be doing this again.”

Robyn Friel, Deputy Chief Executive of Jewish Care Scotland said, “We are so grateful to Jack and Diane for all of their efforts and hard work over the years to raise awareness of Jewish Care Scotland as well as to receive such generous donations.  Jack has supported us in so many ways including the Whisky Barrel Judaica Chanukah raffle, donating handcrafted items towards our own fundraising events, asking those asking him to make items to donate to Jewish Care Scotland and most recently through this special whisky tasting event at his home.  We are delighted to be a part of Whisky Barrel Judaica’s unique initiative with funds raised going towards our work for the Jewish Community across Scotland.”

You can find out more about Whisky Barrel Judaica by visiting the website at www.whiskybarreljudaica.com.

Jewish Care Scotland are seeking a highly motivated and driven individual to join the team as Communications and Engagement Officer.  As part of the charity’s Strategic Plan, the role will be a link between Jewish Care Scotland and other Community organisations.  The successful candidate will develop new ways to engage with the Community face-to-face and reach new audiences.

We recently celebrated some team member promotions.  Megan, Senior Administrator from July 2021 was appointed as Office and Finance Manager earlier this month.  Jean, previously Senior Support Worker, now leads the Community and Wellbeing team at Jewish Care Scotland as Service Lead.

Jewish Care Scotland Deputy Chief Executive, Robyn Friel said of the opportunity: “We are on the look out for an enthusiastic individual to take on the role of Communications and Engagement Officer to help increase Community engagement, to make sure anyone who might benefit from our services knows about Jewish Care Scotland and what’s on here and to listen to feedback to help us develop our service offering to best meet the needs of the Community.”

The role is currently open to applicants, and anyone interested is encouraged to get in touch for an informal conversation and to find out about the role and the recruitment process.

Vacancy information is available online and anyone interested in the role can call Robyn on 0141 620 1800 for a confidential, informal conversation.

At our AGM in September 2025, we launched our next, five-year strategic plan for Jewish Care Scotland.

We have been working for the last year or so on developing this next strategic plan.

Many of our valued stakeholders were involved in gathering feedback, through speaking with us, sharing ideas and telling us what is important to you.  We shared a stakeholder feedback survey, as widely as we possibly could to get people’s views and perceptions of Jewish Care Scotland.  Many volunteers, service users and visitors completed it and we tried to reach members of the Jewish Community who currently don’t engage with us to find out why, and what we could do that might encourage them to engage.  We set up a Strategy subgroup, comprising of staff, volunteers and Board members to analyse the findings alongside looking at demand for our current services.  We are proud to share this new Strategic Plan with you now.

Our vision has been fine-tuned, with a focus on creating opportunities to connect.  Our purpose is a bit clearer, emphasising that the work that we do and the services we provide are designed to enhance and to enrich people’s lives in various way.  Our values remain the same with a focus on collaboration in the coming years.

Through all of our data gathering, informal conversations, staff brainstorming sessions and Board meetings we agreed that our three strategic priorities would remain the same.  Connecting People, Promoting Wellbeing and Maximising Resources.

You can read the Strategic Plan online by clicking this link.  Or you can request a printed copy by calling 0141 620 1800, emailing admin@jcarescot.org.uk or pick one up from our Information Station at Jewish Care Scotland.

Jewish Care Scotland marked a huge milestone with Honorary Vice-President Joan Sellyn.  Jewish Care Scotland Chairman Dr Richard Groden, Honorary President Maureen Solomons, Honorary Vice-President Lesley Roles joined Joan and her grandchildren Marc and Gabrielle at Joan’s home for a surprise tea to mark her upcoming 100^th birthday.

Along with Chief Executive Linda Kemp and Deputy Chief Executive Robyn Friel, the group celebrated Joan’s birthday as well as reminiscing and reflecting on Joan’s impressive contribution to Jewish Care Scotland and the wider Community.

Maureen Solomons remembered how she looked up to Joan as her mentor when she first started volunteering with Jewish Care Scotland in 1986, and described her as the voice of reason.  Maureen, Joan and Lesley remembered an intensive counselling course that they embarked upon together, with Joan helping to organise weekend retreats as part of the learning and always making sure the group had their home comforts while they were away learning.  They reflected on Joan’s motto which was “just do it”, and according to her grandchildren that hasn’t changed!

Joan was presented with flowers, cakes and a certificate from Jewish Care Scotland marking her 100^th birthday in October and told us of her time at Jewish Care Scotland that it was “all good fun”.

Sunday 7 September 2025

Jewish Care Scotland, The Jewish Council of Scotland and The Scottish Jewish Youth Alliance were delighted to collaboratively host a Rosh Hashanah Fayre at the Walton Community Care Centre and Maccabi Glasgow.

The event was an opportunity to spotlight the talents of Jewish makers, artists and small businesses from all across the country.  There were 17 stallholders from across Glasgow, Edinburgh and even Dundee.  The event also saw the launch of a Hannah Frank exhibition, with thanks to the Glasgow Women’s Library, as part Cities Embracing Jewish Heritage Month.  There was live music from Ingrid and Eric, live performances from Marnie, apple juicing with Rob and a visit from Laura and the team at Bunny & Co.  

We were delighted to have the support of ten volunteers who kept the day, and the café, running smoothly welcoming over 200 visitors!

The event was a truly collaborative one, bringing together many different people from the Community in time to celebrate the New Year.  Huge thanks to everyone involved for making the day such a fun Community event.  See you next year!

We are hiring two key roles to join the team and drive forward our upcoming strategic plan from 2025 to 2030.

Check out the job roles here.