“I always thought I’d just be a therapist, ‘’ confessed Sara Tick, executive director of Jewish Family Services (JFS) of Greater Charleston. “And I never planned to launch a nonprofit during a pandemic.” Yet on January 1, 2021, as Covid-19 raged across the world, JFS opened its doors as a standalone nonprofit, poised to help as many Lowcountry families as could walk through its doors. Its mission is to empower individuals, strengthen families, protect the vulnerable and help seniors age with dignity. Based on Jewish values of tzedakah (charity and justice) and tikkun olam (repair of the world), their services are available to people regardless of race, religion, ethnic background, sexual orientation or gender identity.
The JFS catalogue of services includes short term, supportive mental health counseling with a licensed marriage and family therapist. The kosher food pantry provides meals to those facing food insecurity, while case managers assist individuals and families with finding resources if their needs are greater than the JFS can support. A senior outreach initiative connects seniors and families to services and two interest-free, need-based loan programs for Jewish students and individuals and families. The JFS also provides emergency financial assistance for qualified individuals who need assistance with basic needs like rent and utilities.
The woman behind the JFS, the accidental executive who “just” wanted to be a therapist — as if that’s not a tough job itself — is Sara Tick. Born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, her family was actively involved in the small Jewish community there, but she was generally the only Jewish kid in her school classes. In college, she studied psychology and gender studies at Indiana University. “And then I graduated during the Great Recession in 2008,” she said with a laugh. “So I went straight to grad school.”
Graduate school was at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, where Tick received her master’s in family therapy. She loved Boston and her work with adolescents with eating disorders, but she soon realized she wanted to go home to South Carolina.
“I never thought my Jewish identity would play a part in my career,” she said. However, she found a position as the director of Jewish Social Services with the Charleston Jewish Federation and never looked back. “The Jewish values I grew up with are about equality for all and leaving the world a better place than you found it,” she remarked, adding that she is able to live out those values through her work.
Tick stayed with the Charleston Jewish Federation for nine years, heading up what started as a small department but kept growing. In 2020, Tick and her colleagues realized their department had matured into its own organization. The timing, while daunting, worked out. During a pandemic, people still need help, and that’s what the JFS provides.
There are approximately 11,000 Jews in Charleston, but Tick stressed that the JFS services aren’t just for them. “We’re incredibly inclusive,” she insisted. “Of course, we’re always here for the Jewish community, but that’s not enough. We have to help the secular community, too. You should always help your neighbors, and your neighbors’ neighbors. Quality care is a basic human right and need.”
Helping her neighbors’ neighbors is something Tick continually embodies in her professional life. She’s climbed the ladder to the top of her organization and now wants to reach down and pull other women up. “We need more female nonprofit CEOs,” she pointed out. “Like I said, I thought I would just be a therapist, but you have to broaden your horizons. If you care about something, you have to work to make it happen.”
