Building families, one miracle at a time with the JFF

The statistics are compelling. Since the Jewish Fertility Foundation was launched in Atlanta in 2015 by Elana Frank, more than 400 fertility grants, loans and discounts have been distributed for a total of $2.6 million. More importantly, more than 240 babies have been born in that time, there are currently 83 pregnant women and 1,200 clients – and those numbers are changing daily.

But the impact on the families JFF has served in those nearly 10 years is even more notable. Elisheva Engler, JFF National Program Manager – who along with her husband helped Frank create JFF – said she has “three beautiful reasons to work for JFF.” Mother of three, thanks to IVF, or in vitro fertilization, Engler said “there was nothing like JFF” when she tried to conceive her first two children.

“It was hard to find anyone to walk us through the process,” she said. “There were no support groups or fertility groups to let you know that somebody out there ‘gets it’.” Now JFF has many support groups including one just for men, one for the LGBTQ+ community, one for those using surrogacy, an infertility group, a pregnancy-after-fertility support group, one associated with JScreen – which provides genetic testing – and one associated with Sharsheret, a nonprofit organization that supports Jewish women diagnosed with breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

There’s also a fertility buddy program that matches up someone going through the challenging process of conception with a veteran of that process. According to Rebecca Guttman, JFF Atlanta manager, the organization just opened a grandparents arm of support groups. There are also educational awareness programs.

Engler, who has been employed by JFF for nearly two years, emphasized that all support and educational services are free and open to everyone going through fertility treatment. In order to receive financial support, one of the two partners must be Jewish, and grants are based on financial qualification.

Financial support can be essential since one cycle of IVF can cost $25,000 and fertility treatments insurances are not required to cover fertility treatment, so most do not, according to Guttman.

Despite being a nurse and working for a hospital at the time, Chau Bui and her partner Joshua Kurtz, didn’t realize that fertility benefits weren’t included in her insurance. When she went to see a fertility specialist, she saw fliers for JFF and immediately contacted them.

“We thought we knew about most Jewish organizations,” she said, noting that Kurtz is an Atlanta native.

Now parents to 13-month-old Alexandria, named after Kurtz’s grandfather who was a Holocaust survivor, both emphasize how important the support groups are. “People realize they are not alone on this journey,” Kurtz said. “They want you to connect; that’s the big thing, even more than money.”

According to Bui, “At the heart of Judaism is community, and this is just that – the JFF community. As we expand the larger Jewish community by building families, we are simultaneously forming a community of support people in our lives.”

Mother of two daughters, Sara (who requested anonymity), had both children via IVF—the first in New York and the second in Atlanta. But being Orthodox presented additional challenges to the process. “After going through years of fertility treatments in New York, we had our doctors, our network, and our support system,” she said. “Once we moved to Atlanta, we had to start all over, and our first call was to JFF.”

One of these resources was religious in nature: Orthodox Jewish patients require an observer to be present during egg retrievals, sperm collection, embryo transfers, and in the lab whenever genetic material is involved.

After the couple moved to Atlanta, they struggled to find a clinic that would allow for halachic observation. “JFF stepped in for us, and for so many other Orthodox couples going through infertility here in Atlanta,” Sara said. “It was incredible. They helped us find a clinic that was willing to incorporate this, and really helped push the process along.”

Sara later helped connect Guttman with ATIME, a New York-based organization that arranges halachic supervision for couples who need it—bringing that resource to Atlanta. “JFF realized that the Orthodox community was steadily growing in Atlanta,” she said. Having this option, she added, is a “game changer.”

“Infertility is such a long and tiring waiting game; there are so many hoops to jump through,” said Sara. “JFF has been like a shortcut on this journey. They really helped us feel seen and supported throughout this process — they’ve been here all along.”