Finding Connection at Every Chapter

November 6, 2026

When Erica Greenblatt moved from New York to Atlanta in 2018, she knew almost no one outside of work. 

She was building a life in a new city, looking for friends, connections and a Jewish community that felt like hers. 

Two years later, stuck alone in her apartment during the summer of 2020, she signed up for Wisdom Pairings, a virtual Federation mentorship and networking program.

Her assigned partner never showed up.

Neither did Matthew Borenstein’s.

So Erica and Matthew were paired together instead.

“It was not a dating event,” Erica laughed.

But the next day, Matthew messaged her on LinkedIn. They started dating soon after and married in 2022.

What began as a chance virtual meeting became a marriage, a family and a connection to Jewish Atlanta that would be there for some of their happiest moments and some of their hardest.

Matthew became involved with Federation’s Innovation Committee and now serves as co-chair. Erica found community through events and professional connections. Together, they established a donor-advised fund with Atlanta Jewish Foundation and support the Holocaust Survivor Support Fund in honor of family members who survived and those who were murdered in the Holocaust.

Then, in 2024, Erica and Matthew experienced a late-term pregnancy loss.

In the grief that followed, they found Jewish Fertility Foundation and a support group of parents who understood their loss in a way few others could.

“It was just an amazing resource for us,” Erica said. 

The group became more than a resource. Over the next couple of years, those parents became friends. 

And this July, Erica and Matthew welcomed their daughter, Lucy Gabriella. 

“She’s our little light,” Erica said. “She’s just a little angel.” 

Now, some of the same Jewish community that surrounded Erica and Matthew through loss is part of the life they are building with Lucy. 

Erica attends JBaby programs and receives PJ Library books for her daughter. Recently, a JGather grant helped Erica organize an intown Sukkot celebration that brought together more than 75 people, filling the gathering with families, holiday learning and even a Sukkot song set to Bob Dylan. 

Behind so many of these moments are Federation donors. Their generosity helps make possible the programs, partnerships and grants that connected Erica to Jewish Atlanta when she was new to the city, supported her family through loss and are now helping her create Jewish experiences for Lucy and for other families in her community. 

For someone who arrived in Atlanta knowing almost no one, Erica now looks around and sees a community she has helped build. 

From an empty seat in a virtual breakout room to a community that showed up through loss and now celebrates with Lucy, Erica’s path to Jewish Atlanta was anything but planned.

“It just touches every part of our lives,” Erica said.

Help make the next connection possible. Your gift to Federation helps people find their community at every chapter of life. Make a gift today.