“We are excited to welcome Alex and Cara to the Jewish Federation team,” said Chief Human Resources Officer Melissa Gabillon. “Their administrative and clerical experience coupled with their positive attitudes and friendly approach, will not only enhance our team, but also show the community that every space can only benefit from being more inclusive."

A grantee of the Jewish Federation, JCHAI helps individuals live fulfilling, productive lives as independently as possible. JCHAI's participants who want to work have a 77 percent competitive, integrated employment average, compared to the national average for people with disabilities of 30 percent.

Whellan and Lesse began working with the Jewish Federation in January, 2023 to assist in digitizing and shredding documents for Endowments, Finance and Human Resources.

ABOUT ALEX LESSE

Lesse is thrilled to join the team at the Jewish Federation! Lesse brings great administrative experience to his new position. Lesse has most recently been working in an administrative capacity at Bethel Church. He also worked in the past as a data entry specialist for 9th Street Internal Medicine, as well as MediScribe, Inc. His previous employer indicates that Lesse has a very positive work ethic, and that he rarely ever made mistakes in his work. Lesse also previously held a job as a mailroom clerk while he was a student through Arcadia University’s REAL certificate program.

Outside of work, you can catch Lesse playing one of many sports he enjoys, including softball, volleyball and bowling (he has been on 3 different bowling leagues at the same time!). Alex is also a huge Disney aficionado, a travel connoisseur (he loves California!), a Philadelphia sports fan, and he knows various types of dance including tap and jazz.

ABOUT CARA WHELLAN

Prior to joining the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, Whellan completed the Project SEARCH internship program at Main Line Health where she held internships in the Human Resources department at Lankenau Medical Center, Community Program department at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital and the Outpatient Laboratory at Lankenau Medical Center. In all of these roles, Whellan assisted the departments with various clerical and office needs such as data entry, document transcription and digitization, filing, alphabetizing, and organizing.

On Sundays, Whellan works as a front office support clerk at her Synagogue - Beth David Reform Congregation in Gladwyne, PA. Whellan still actively volunteers at the Outpatient Laboratory at Lankenau and participates in a horsemanship program in Malvern, PA.

Whellan graduated from Lower Merion High School and attended New York Institute of Technology’s Vocational Independence Program. Outside of these experiences, Whellan is involved in JCHAI and enjoys playing tennis and horseback riding, as well as watching football on the weekends with her Dad.

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To learn more about JCHAI services, please contact questions@jchai.org or 610.922.2480.

To learn about how the Jewish Federation is investing more than $8 million in 2023 to care for those in need, click here.