Desperate on Staten Island Turn to Devorah Weiss, a Graduate of Wurzweiler School of Social Work For emergencies, there is 911. For noise complaints, there is 311. For those in dire straits on Staten Island, there is Devorah Weiss, a social worker whose cellphone number is passed on as a last resort. “I ask how they get my name, and it’s always, ‘My friend told me and her friend told her,’ ” said Ms. Weiss, 55, the Staten Island social work liaison for Connect to Care, an initiative of UJA-Federation of New York aimed at helping the newly needy middle class. Her social work services are also enlisted by the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, a beneficiary agency of UJA-Federation, and she has a desk at the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island. The posts keep her busy from the moment her phone starts ringing at 8 a.m. until it finally falls silent at 10 p.m. “When you’re really desperate, sometimes you just need someone to listen to you,” she said one afternoon as she navigated the Staten Island streets in her beige minivan. She dresses modestly, all long skirts and covered elbows, in accordance with her Orthodox Jewish faith. Read full article in The New York Times...