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In 1941 Eda Pell arrived in California from Germany with her sister, Henni Kuflik, and faced an uncertain future as a young immigrant. Both girls had miraculously received visas to the United States as “wartime orphans” after being smuggled out of Germany to France. When the sisters learned they were going to a place called San Francisco, Eda says, “Quite frankly, it sounded like Timbuktu and the end of the earth to us.” But they quickly learned to appreciate their new home.
The sisters settled into life at Homewood Terrace, a new type of child-care campus, which mirrored a family home instead of the sterile dormitory-type settings of the past. Children lived in a community of cottages with a housemother and participated in a rich offering of music, sports, and community outings.
Jewish Family Service Agency and Homewood Terrace—the two Jewish agencies that took care of the girls—would eventually merge to become present-day JFCS. Eda says, “JFCS has always been a part of my life since I arrived in the United States and if there hadn’t been a Jewish community and JFCS here for me when I arrived in San Francisco, who knows what my life would have been.”
Eda was one of only three members of her family to survive the war. After enduring so much, Eda forged a new life—learned English, went to secretarial school, and married Joseph Pell, a partisan fighter against the Nazis and fellow Holocaust survivor. The couple worked hard and thrived in the Bay Area. From a small ice cream shop owner Joe would become a prominent real estate developer. The couple stayed close to their Jewish roots and lovingly raised four children together.
Joe and Eda Pell (center) with their children (from left) Karen, Debra, Becky and David
For Eda, Giving to JFCS Is Personal
When Eda and Joe began to find success and stability, they began to give back to the community that had helped them so much. Because of Eda’s personal experience, she wanted to make sure that children at risk would get the love and care necessary to heal from their trauma and have every opportunity to create full and productive lives.
Eda says, “Having been provided with so much support when I first came to this country, my husband’s and my giving is a continuation of what I experienced. It seems only natural to turn around and do the same thing for others by supporting JFCS.”
In 2007 the couple created the Joseph & Eda Pell Fund for Children at Risk to provide perpetual and comprehensive social services to children.
Eda notes, “My support of JFCS is a personal kind of giving. I know it’s going to direct social services to children, like I received when I was young—it’s going to the right places.”
Coming Full Circle
Seven decades ago Eda and her sister were welcomed into the JFCS community of caring as children and became active members of a rich Jewish community. It only seems fitting that Henni is now living comfortably at JFCS’ Rhoda Goldman Plaza, the assisted living community JFCS developed and opened in 2000.
And a legacy of giving continues as the younger generation of Eda and Joe’s family walk in their footsteps, personally involved with JFCS to support projects that are dear to them, like the JFCS Holocaust Center, and JFCS’ Adoption Connection and Dream Program. Eda adds, “It makes me happy to know that my children and their spouses have found interests in aspects of JFCS, and are giving back in ways that are gratifying as well.”