BOULDER Matters Volume 25, No. 1 • WINTER 2015
Boulder JFS Provides Village of Support for Linda Woods Linda Woods has been through her share of struggles. Linda’s family of origin was very dysfunctional, she dropped out of school in ninth grade, and she has various health challenges. Despite these difficulties, she had made a good life for herself. She had a loving husband, two daughters, and a career managing convenience stores. In October 2010, her world came crashing down when she learned that her 24-year-old daughter, Susan, and Susan’s husband were killed in a car accident. Susan had graduated summa cum laude from Southeastern College in Oklahoma just five months before her death, and was attending Cornell University to get her master’s degree in public affairs. After the tragedy, Linda completely shut down. She couldn’t work, her friends couldn’t handle her grief and stopped calling, and she stayed inside except for brief trips to the grocery store. Linda says, “I used to have a personality and was a real go-getter. Then the knock came on my door with the news and my life was over.” In 2013 Linda turned to Boulder JFS for help. The first thing Boulder JFS did was match Linda with a Friendly Visitor, Sarah Zacks. Sarah, a trained social worker, has been a stay-at-home mom for the last five years. She wanted to find a way to give back and use her social-work skills while having time with her kids, so she came to JFS looking for volunteer opportunities helping older adults. Being Linda’s Friendly Visitor has been a rewarding experience. Sarah says, “Ultimately what I wanted to do as a volunteer is to show that there are people who care. She is often not up to having visitors and prefers that we talk
Left to right: Hollace Westfeldt, Linda Woods, and Sarah Zacks
on the phone. Even when all I can do is leave a message for Linda, I know that I’ve shown her that someone genuinely cares about her. Linda tells me how much she appreciates that I listen and that she feels better after she talks to me.” Linda’s birth mom was Jewish and her father was Puerto Rican. She identifies as Jewish, married a Jewish man, and raised her kids in the faith. She wanted to learn more about Judaism and asked JFS to help. Staff connected her with Hollace Westfeldt, a para-chaplain who specializes in working with people who are newly bereaved. “Linda doesn’t want prayers or to go to services,” says Hollace. “At first, I questioned what I was doing with her and how I could help. She is definitely grieving.” Hollace is also a victim’s advocate for the Boulder Police Department and puts a lot of the skills she’s learned in that volunteer job to good use with Linda. “I listen to her a lot, validate what she says, encourage her, challenge her gently, and bring new thoughts to her.” Continued on page 4