Inspire your mind, body,
heart & spirit!
AT KLEINLIFE: MONTGOMERY COUNTY
formerly known as Klein Active Adult Center
• Free Daily Kosher Lunch
and Free Transportation
• Lifelong Learning Classes
• Chess, Mah Jong and Knitting
• Fitness and Health Programs
• Current Events, Book Reviews,
and Art Lectures
• Holiday and Multi-Cultural Activities
Tapping the Mettle
of Golden Agers
Seniors have their moments as volunteers
Maayan Jaffe/JNS.org
Call us today!
215-635-5244 KleinLife: Montgomery County is funded in part by Montgomery County Aging
and Adult Services with a generous gift from Bud & Judith Newman,the Goodman
Family Philanthropic Fund and the Elias Family Foundation KleinLife is a
nationally accredited senior center. KleinLife operates in partnership with Jewish
Federation of Greater Philadelphia and United Way of Greater Philadelphia &
Southern New Jersey and is a beneficiary of Philadelphia Corporation for Aging.

Mondays to Thursdays, 9:45am to 2:00pm • 215-635-5244
Members of the Chesed Corps lend a helping hand.

NEW! Opening
AUGUST 2015
Peek inside.

Our models are now open!
A new concept in senior living – completely
customized support, uniquely sophisticated
surroundings, and unparalleled hospitality.

We’ve begun showing our elegantly furnished
models. Be among the first to take a look.

Visit our Welcome Center in Paoli Shopping
Center or call 610-640-4000 to schedule a
special ‘hard hat tour.’
14 MAY 14, 2015
THE GOOD LIFE
A ge can be just a number.

“Just because someone
is older or has limita-
tions does not mean” that he or
she “cannot continue to be valu-
able and make a difference for
others,” said Carol Silver Elliott,
president and CEO of Cedar Vil-
lage Retirement Community in
Mason, Ohio.

It was with this in mind that
Cedar Village’s Chesed Corps
was established in 2009. Elliot
said the group, the brainchild
of a former director of resident
programming, came when staff-
ers realized that many of the
center’s 300 residents had been
successful businesspeople and
engaged community volunteers
before moving to Cedar Village,
and that there was an opportuni-
ty to harness their drive.

“We felt there was no reason
for them to stop contributing to
our general community just be-
cause they lived in a retirement
community,” Elliott said.

Since then, a sizeable co-
hort of residents has been mak-
ing Shabbat baskets each week,
which are delivered to Jew-
ish patients at area hospitals.

Monthly, they participate in
larger projects, such as serving
lunch at the Ronald McDonald
House or offering music and a
meal to the residents of the Cen-
ter for Respite Care, a shelter for
homeless men with short-term
medical needs.

Participants serve at soup
kitchens, collect and sort school
supplies for underprivileged
children, and bake and ship
cookies for American troops.

“It is just absolutely amaz-
ing,” said Elaine Dumes, 88, who
has been active with the Chesed
Corps since its inception. She
said it makes her feel good to
give back to the community,
and that she tries not to miss a
program. “I fell in the beginning of De-
cember in my apartment and I
broke my femur,” Dumes ex-
plained. “I had to go upstairs to
the health care unit for a month.

But I fought my way back down
and had an amazing and quick
recovery — in part, it was due
to this, to wanting to get back to
the Chesed Corps.”
Elliot said Cedar Village is
careful to staff each volunteer
opportunity appropriately to en-
sure the safety of the residents.

Not every person can take part
in every project; some volun-
teer in the building, while oth-
ers are more comfortable going
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



It’s a wrap: Chesed Corps volunteers make sandwich wraps
for the Ronald McDonald House.

out. She said that seeing the vol-
unteers in action, she is often
unsure who gets more out of it,
“the folks we are helping or our
folks themselves. They often for-
get their own concerns as they
focus on someone else’s needs.”
Chesed Corps recently re-
ceived two national awards for
its work, one from the Associ-
ation of Jewish Aging Services
and another from Partners in
Senior Life.

They are not alone in their
activity. In Philadelphia, Jew-
ish Family and Children’s Ser-
vice of Greater Philadelphia
(267-256-2082) offers such an
option as well.

It can be called “the service
without a name,” joked Robin
Henkin, supervisor of volunteer
service at JFCS.

But their aim is a serious one
— helping those elderly who
need a little help with getting
on in life. The volunteers go in-
to the homes of those seeking a
boost, “assist them with trans-
portation, companionship, pa-
per work, helping them pack
when they have to move,” Hen-
kin said of the program made up
of volunteers of a variety of ages
but with many retired seniors —
more than 60 who are age 65 and
older. They, in turn, provide di-
rect assistance to 125 older adult
clients, she said.

In Northwest Baltimore,
older residents of an entire
neighborhood are giving back
through a supported communi-
ty network, which was launched
by Comprehensive Housing As-
sistance, Inc., in March 2013.

According to program di-
rector Risyl Edelman, North-
west Neighbors Connecting is a
grassroots, membership-based
model in which services are pro-
vided to seniors by other senior
members, volunteers and vet-
ted vendors. It gives the area’s
aging population the practical
means and confidence to live in-
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM dependently and remain in their
homes and community.

The organization was creat-
ed after a 2010 Jewish commu-
nity study revealed the 85-years-
and-older population increased
by 166 percent since 1999, and
that 40 percent of Baltimore
Jewish seniors over 65 who are
living alone are in poor or fair
health. Edelman said members are
interviewed to learn what skills
they can “easily and happily”
share with others, and to deter-
mine any needs they have.

“After they sign up, we plug
them in,” said Edelman. “While
our vision is to assist people to
remain in their homes for as
long as possible, our work is to
get them out of their house as
much as possible.”
Currently, there are more
than 170 members of the Neigh-
bors program and another 70
people involved with the ini-
tiative in some way. The oldest
volunteer is 92. Transportation
and technology assistance are
among the top volunteer servic-
es provided.

In Florida, older adults and ba-
by boomer volunteers are trained
to function as liaisons, resource
specialists, peer counselors and
agency envoys in their own gated
communities through the Ferd
and Gladys Alpert Jewish Fami-
ly and Children Services agency.

Called “Ambassadors,” the pro-
gram creates a trained network
of seniors who can solve problems
and support their frail neighbors.

Some 13,000 elderly people
live in West Palm Beach retire-
ment communities, and as ma-
ny as 70 percent of the area’s
over-65 community is Jewish.

“This is civic engagement
at the basic level,” said Jenni
Frumer, the JFCS CEO.

Frumer said ambassadors
are trained by JFCS to identi-
fy neglect, listen and offer em-
pathy in times of crisis and of-
fer personal planning advice to
their peers. The volunteers cre-
ated their own end-of-life plan-
ning guide, which they distrib-
ute throughout their retirement
communities. They also write and act out
skits at area synagogues and
other venues, educating seniors
about matters such as the need
to wear their hearing aids, to re-
member to put their emergency
alert buttons on in the morning,
and to improve dialogue with
their adult children.

“Our older adults can still
teach us how to make the world
a better place,” said Cedar Vil-
lage’s Elliot. “Their example of
commitment and volunteerism
speaks volumes about Jewish
values and our obligation to
help others.”
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261 Old York Road, #417A
Q JEWISH EXPONENT
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Q midatlantic@aabgu.org
Q www.aabgu.org
MAY 14, 2015
15