Creating a Safety Net for the Most Marginalized in our Community

Since 1929, when Wilshire Boulevard Temple moved into its current and now historical home, in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles, the congregation has been an active participant in the racially, ethnically, and multi-culturally diverse community surrounding it. 

Seeking to support that community through Jewish values, the members of the congregation launched a Sunday Food Pantry in 1988, ensuring that the underserved members of the community had food security. From the success of that, the congregation began to envision a way to help more of those in their community in need. In 2016, the Karsh Family Social Service Center was launched. The Karsh Center, a robust, comprehensive social service provider, provides low-income clients in Koreatown with a wide range of crucial educational, food, legal, and medical services. 

While the Food Pantry is still the backbone of Karsh Center, it is also the gateway to numerous other services local families can take advantage of. Among those services are: The Big Give annual Thanksgiving meal distribution, vision and dental care, wellness checks for the uninsured and underinsured, a case management program that aids families with achieving financial stability and security, grief groups for the bereaved, English as a Second Language and digital literacy classes, a back-to-school resource fair, and even a toy giveaway. Karsh Center also facilitates a Collaborator Network of over 40 other nonprofit organizations that work together to share resources, build relationships, and strategize on how best to serve the Koreatown community. 

Last year alone, the Karsh Center served 3,347 clients, including 1,714 new clients, and 818 children. The population of “Koreatown” that Karsh Center serves is incredibly diverse: 52.3% Hispanic, 33.4% Asian, 8.6% White, and 3.7% African American. It is also one of the neediest neighborhoods in the nation, with household incomes in Koreatown ranking 251st out of 265 in Los Angeles.

There is scarcely a community or family need unaccounted for and, since the launch of the Karsh Center, it has become a bedrock and beacon of the community, fulfilling the dreams and goals of original founding members so many years ago. 

Executive Director Lila Guirguis has seen the program transform many lives for the better. “I’ve never seen a group of people more dedicated to volunteering,” she says of the people who give their time to support programming at the Karsh Center. “They feel it as a calling and a necessary aspect of their lives.” 

The Karsh Family Social Service Center creates a safety net for those who need it most by providing an array of life-saving social services while also promoting dignity, compassion, and community.