1947 – 2025
Honoring the Legacy of Myrna Epstein Winter
A Lifelong Champion of Jewish Refugees and Immigrants
On the first anniversary (yahrzeit) of the loss of Myrna Epstein Winter, Jewish Family Service (JFS) of Metrowest is honored to celebrate her extraordinary legacy by establishing a fund in her memory. For decades, Myrna served as a case manager at JFS, dedicating her life to helping immigrant families not only survive the challenges of resettlement, but truly thrive in their new communities. Beginning with the arrival of Jewish refugees from the former Soviet Union, Myrna was at the heart of JFS’s efforts to welcome families fleeing religious persecution, poverty, and systemic antisemitism. Her compassion, persistence, and deeply personal commitment to each family she served reflected the very best of JFS, and this fund will ensure that her legacy of welcome, dignity, and opportunity continues for generations to come.
As we remember Myrna one year after her passing, we honor not only what she accomplished, but the remarkable person behind that work—a woman whose quiet strength, boundless compassion, and unwavering commitment transformed countless lives in the Jewish community and beyond. Throughout her years at JFS, Myrna became a trusted source of guidance, reassurance, and hope for families navigating the uncertainty of beginning again. Her work was never simply about helping people resettle; it was about helping them build lives of stability, connection, and possibility.
She walked alongside families arriving from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and other former Soviet republics, guiding them through every step of rebuilding their lives — securing housing, accessing healthcare, finding employment, learning English, enrolling children in school, and reconnecting with Jewish life and tradition. Her support was never transactional; those she assisted became part of her extended family. She celebrated births, bar and bat mitzvahs, graduations, marriages, citizenship ceremonies, and other milestones, remaining a trusted advisor and friend for decades. She offered guidance, reassurance, and love long after the work of resettlement was considered complete.
Myrna’s connection to the Jewish community was unwavering and deeply lived. Her Judaism was not theoretical – it informed how she moved through the world. She embodied hachnasat orchim (welcoming the stranger) and arevut (mutual responsibility), turning Jewish values into daily practice. Though rooted in Jewish life, her impact reached far beyond it. She did not measure who was entitled to care; she simply showed up where she was needed.
Even as she faced a long and fierce battle with cancer, Myrna neither sought sympathy nor stepped away from others. She lived fully and selflessly until the very end, a model of resilience, humility, dignity, and devotion.
News of her passing reverberated across generations and communities, prompting an extraordinary outpouring of grief, remembrance, and gratitude. Reflections came not only from the many former refugees whose lives she helped rebuild decades earlier, but also from childhood friends who cherished her constancy, colleagues who relied on her quiet leadership, volunteers she inspired, community partners who saw her as a touchstone, and co-workers who experienced her as both mentor and moral compass.
Myrna gave of herself both as a cherished volunteer and as a devoted member of the JFS staff, approaching every task with humility, integrity, and a deep sense of personal responsibility. She championed immigrants and refugees with conviction and compassion, honoring the weight of history while embracing the possibilities of the future. Her commitment to others ran deep, but it was always grounded in, and illuminated by, her profound love for her family.
To honor the depth and permanence of her impact, Jewish Family Service of Metrowest seeks to create a lasting tribute that reflects not only what Myrna did, but how she did it – with humility, conviction, and a profound sense of responsibility.
In recognition of her decades of service, her leadership in welcoming Jewish refugees from the former Soviet Union, and her unwavering commitment to all who sought safety and belonging, JFS proposes the establishment of the:
Myrna Winter Memorial Immigrant Assistance Fund
This Fund will carry forward the values she lived every day – compassion without condition, dignity in practice and service rooted in both Jewish tradition and shared humanitarian values. It will provide critical resources for resettlement, stabilization, mentorship, and advocacy for immigrants and refugees, ensuring that her legacy is not only remembered, but actively continued.
Her life’s work will not end in memory; it will live on in action.
Invitation to Honor Her Legacy Through Giving
In tribute to Myrna’s lifelong devotion to immigrants, refugees, and the Jewish community, Jewish Family Service of Metrowest invites family, friends, colleagues, and community members to honor her memory through contributions to the Myrna Winter Memorial Immigrant Assistance Fund.
Gifts to this fund will sustain the work that defined Myrna’s life – helping newcomers find safety, dignity, connection, and hope. Your support will:
- Assist new Americans with urgent and long-term needs
- Strengthen Jewish-led efforts to welcome those seeking refuge
- Extend compassionate support to families rebuilding their lives
By contributing to this fund, you ensure that the values Myrna lived so fully – compassion without condition, dignity in practice, and service rooted in Jewish tradition and shared humanitarian values – will continue to uplift others for years to come.
Those who wish to make a donation in her memory may do so by:
• Contributing online
• Mailing a gift to JFS of Metrowest with the fund noted
• Designating tribute gifts through family notices, synagogues, or community networks
• Recommending a grant through a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) – search for JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE OF METROWEST INC (EIN: 04-2730898)
Large or small, every contribution carries her legacy forward.
Her life changed lives. Our gifts will help continue to do so. Click here and donate today.