What Makes Mother's Day Special For This Single Mom? Federation

Like a lot of people these days, Lisa Glazer cobbles together a living. She’s a freelance photographer, a home organizer and a designer who’s starting a jewelry business with her mother. She’s also a single mom with full-time custody of two young daughters.

“When you’re a single parent, you do whatever you need to do to make the bills and save money,” says Lisa, 44. During summers, she works at camp so her kids—Hannah, age 6, and Lilah, age 8—can attend for free. And she does what it takes to provide them with a traditional Jewish home.

What makes that Jewish home possible? Federation, and its network that provides her and her children with social connections, Jewish programming, holiday and Shabbat meals, financial assistance and access to community resources.

A Genuine Community

It’s no surprise that Lisa turned to Federation. Single in the 1990s, she served on the board of her Federation’s young adult division. More than just fun, she found a genuine network of friends, grounded in Jewish values.

Those connections proved invaluable years later. Lisa married when she was 34—and divorced four years later. “During those horrible times, during divorce, is when you really need support in the community," she reflects.

Making Life a Little Easier

Now, Federation’s helping Lisa connect with other mothers just like her. “Some of my closest friends are part” of the Federation network, she says. And Hannah and Lilah have made friends with their kids at their Jewish day school and camp.

Lisa’s grateful for “the opportunities that Federation creates for us single parents, to help us out with things financially that may cost a lot, to give us the special occasions or experiences and to spend time with my friends, being able to do activities we may not be able to afford because of subsidies," or because it's free, she says.

Not all the activities are Jewish oriented—an afternoon at a children’s museum that provided the adults with free coffee and schmooze-time, for example—but being with other Jews is an added bonus. “A single parent network without a religious affiliation…just wouldn’t be the same. We have more in common being Jewish,” she says. “Life would definitely be more challenging without” that support.

“You can’t control love, you can’t control the outcomes, but your kids are forever. It’s not easy being a single parent but…somehow, you make it work,” she says. And Federation is what makes it work for Lisa.