Kramer Senior Services Agency's Sixth Annual Homebound Mitzvah Program Breaks Record -- 193 volunteers reach out to 2,094 Jewish seniors

On Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 4 and 5, the Sixth Annual Homebound Mitzvah Program for the High Holidays was held by the Lola & Saul Kramer Senior Services Agency, Inc. In total, 193 volunteers loaded their cars, and delivered holiday packages for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to 2,094 appreciative, homebound seniors in the community, as well as in 61 local hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and assisted living facilities from Boca Raton to Jupiter, Fla. The typical High Holidays package included one free kosher meal for Rosh Hashanah and one for pre-Kol Nidre, challah, holiday candles, wine, apples and honey. Participants also received a videotape of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services conducted by Rabbi Alan Sherman, chaplain with the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County and director of Religious Activities at Morse Geriatric Center, and Cantor David Feuer from Temple Emanu-El of Palm Beach. A specially printed prayer book to accompany the videotaped services also was included and the Kramer Senior Services Agency loaned out numerous video players -- at no cost -- for those who needed it.

For Immediate Release
Sept. 25, 2002
Contact: Ian Cordes
at (561) 371-2586

Kramer Senior Services Agency's Sixth Annual Homebound Mitzvah Program Breaks Record
-- 193 volunteers reach out to 2,094 Jewish seniors

West Palm Beach, Fla. -- On Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 4 and 5, the Sixth Annual Homebound Mitzvah Program for the High Holidays was held by the Lola & Saul Kramer Senior Services Agency, Inc. In total, 193 volunteers loaded their cars, and delivered holiday packages for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to 2,094 appreciative, homebound seniors in the community, as well as in 61 local hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and assisted living facilities from Boca Raton to Jupiter, Fla..

According to Linda Sevich, branch manager, Kramer Senior Services Agency, this represents a 13 percent increase over last year's Homebound Mitzvah Program for the High Holidays.

"With the holidays coming so early this year, we worried that we may not have as much participation as we'd like. However, we're very pleased with the response throughout the community," Sevich said.

Meal deliveries were completed in an ambitious two-day schedule from the Morse Campus in West Palm Beach, Fla. as well as the Kramer Agency site at the Alex & Esther Gruber Jewish Community Campus on Jog Road in Boynton Beach, Fla.

Not surprisingly, volunteers and participants alike shared kind words and touching moments. As in the case of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. resident Renée Tucker and her daughters Felicia, 6, and Jenna, 20 months. They made several deliveries in the Jupiter, Fla. area, including one to Selma Briskin in Jupiter. Mrs. Briskin was delighted to see the Tucker girls and enjoyed talking with their mother.

This year, Rosh Hashanah started at sundown on Friday, which was also the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath -- making this a very special holiday. To honor this event, a number of volunteers delivered hot Homebound Mitzvah dinners, and shared a "Shabbat" and Rosh Hashanah dinner at the home of participating seniors.

Herb Karger, a Kramer Agency volunteer from Boca Raton, Fla. made deliveries on Wednesday from Boynton Beach. Then on Friday, Sept. 6, in addition to delivering the typical package of meals, Karger accepted an invitation from Program participants, Ellis and Lillian Oxman, who live at King's Point in Delray Beach, Fla. to stay and share a holiday and Shabbat dinner.

Karger helped his hosts prepare their table, light the holiday/Shabbat candles, and serve the hot kosher dinner which was provided by the Kramer Senior Services Agency.

The Oxmans, who are originally from New York City, rarely venture out anymore. "I'm grateful to know that there are warm people in a cold world," Ellis Oxman said.

"I never had any close family to share these holidays with so its nice to be able to share this holiday with a new friend," Oxman added.

In a note to Sevich after the holidays, Oxman wrote, "The Kramer Agency has done more for me than all the pills doctors prescribe."

Another Shabbat dinner was held in Century Village at the home of Wilma Allen. She was joined by volunteers, Paul Skolnick and Sylvia Berkowitz who delivered the hot, four-course kosher feast.

Allen, who has one daughter in New York, was very excited about sharing both Shabbat and the Jewish New Year with her Kramer Agency "family."

"This is a joyous time to remember," Allen exclaimed.

Ethel Cahn, who lives in Century Village in West Palm Beach, Fla. has regular home health care and doesn't drive. So her options are limited when it comes to the holidays. She will be the first to tell you that were it not for the Homebound Mitzvah Program she would not be able to celebrate them.

"For several years, it [Homebound Mitzvah Program] has been important to me because I can observe the holidays. They are such nice people," Cahn said.

The typical High Holidays package included one free kosher meal for Rosh Hashanah and one for pre-Kol Nidre, challah, holiday candles, wine, apples and honey. Participants also received a videotape of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services conducted by Rabbi Alan Sherman, chaplain with the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County, Fla. and director of Religious Activities at Morse Geriatric Center, and Cantor David Feuer from Temple Emanu-El of Palm Beach, Fla. A specially printed prayer book to accompany the videotaped services also was included and the Kramer Senior Services Agency loaned out numerous video players -- at no cost -- for those who needed it.

Rosh Hashanah is the holiday that marked the beginning of the Jewish New Year 5763. This year, it began on Friday evening, Sept. 6. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year, which followed 10 days later on Sunday evening (Erev Yom Kippur), Sept. 15.

The Kramer Senior Services Agency continues to go to great lengths to fill the void often felt by homebound Jewish seniors during Jewish holidays and currently offers the Homebound Mitzvah Program for the High Holidays, Passover and Shabbat. Sponsored through a major grant from the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County and by the generosity of 45 "Mitzvah Makers," the Homebound Mitzvah Program brings the spirit and traditions of the Jewish holidays into the homes of seniors throughout the community who might otherwise not be able to attend synagogue services or celebrate with loved ones. Since its inception in 1997, more than 22,000 deliveries have been made by program volunteers.

For additional information about Kramer Senior Services Agency's programs and services, or to become a Mitzvah Maker, contact (561) 616-0707.

###

The Lola & Saul Kramer Senior Services Agency, is a not-for-profit affiliate of the Joseph L. Morse Geriatric Center. Opened in 1983, the Morse Geriatric Center is a 280-bed state of the art long-term care facility in West Palm Beach, Fla. The mission of the Kramer Agency centers around the goal of maximizing the concept of aging-in-place by allowing clients to remain safely in their homes for as long as possible while receiving an appropriate array of support services.