From JASA with LOVE this Valentine's Day

On Thursday morning, February 10th, 2011, a warm gesture was underway at JASA’s Club 76 despite the biting chill outside. Club-goers teamed up with members from TimeBanksNYC to make Valentine cards for patients at the Metropolitan Hospital.

TimeBanksNYC volunteers Shelly Simpson, Karen Martin, Chrissie Foo, Walter Richardson, and Nelly Hernandez arrived early for set-up. The table was neatly arranged with an array of art supplies and a box of kosher cookies. Before long, however, the table had transformed into the image of an artist’s palette with messy overlaps of colors and indistinguishable lines. Participants immersed themselves in all things card-making. Tamara Maas, Club 76’s Artist in Residence, enthusiastically cut away, designing creative and colorful cards for children. Meanwhile, Gert Steinberg, giving up an intense game of rummy, joined the table and made a handful of cards with heartfelt messages. Mel Stein, initially hesitant, quickly tapped into his artistic craft with the help of TimeBanksNYC’s Chrissie Foo. Among the card-makers were Judy Kronegold and Rose Tamari, who with a calm yet critical eye added detail after detail to their beautiful cards. The ornate cards were signed with love and encouraging wishes of a speedy recovery.

The event was overwhelmingly successful! Scores of beautiful cards were made and by the afternoon, they were on their way to the Metropolitan Hospital.

The project was initiated by TimeBanksNYC, a non-profit organization that connects individuals wanting to exchange skills and services. Similar projects will be held at TimeBanksNYC host sites around the city.

JASA would like to thank TimeBanksNYC for the partnership opportunity and we look forward to working with TimeBanksNYC and other organizations in projects that give back to and strengthen the communities we live in!

JASA TRAINS OLDER ADULTS TO BE EFFECTIVE ADVOCATES

Democracy requires an informed electorate, but it takes more than reading the newspaper to be a knowledgeable citizen. JASA’s Institute for Senior Action trains those 55+ to be advocates for issues affecting the elderly. The Institute for Senior Action program integrates critical aging policy issues with practical grassroots action ideas.

“It is important that seniors make their voices heard,” said Aileen Gittelson, JASA CEO. “The goal of JASA’s Institute for Senior Action is to help the elderly become informed advocates, speaking with authority and clarity on issues that directly affect them.” To date, more than 750 people have participated in the JASA program.

The 10-week course, which begins Thursday, March 17, focuses on: navigating the federal state, and local legislative processes; public speaking; understanding senior benefits and entitlements; techniques of social action; and intergenerational issues. The sessions will run every Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and will be held at the Hudson Guild Elliott Center, 441 West 26th Street, Manhattan.

To request an application, contact Bola Aribidesi,
Director of JASA’s Institute for Senior Action, 212-273-5261; ifsa@jasa.org.

Volunteer Spotlight On: Meish Goldish

Author, musician, and JASA volunteer Meish Goldish was the live entertainment for the Brooklyn Volunteer Expo and the JASA Senior Alliance Holiday Party. Mr. Goldish is an accomplished author who has published over 150 children’s books and has had several books of his poetry published by Scholastic. When he is not writing, he finds time to entertain as a musician and comedian.

On November 10th, Mr. Goldish was the live entertainment for the JASA Brooklyn Volunteer Expo at Brooklyn Borough Hall. Mr. Goldish played guitar and sang for four consecutive hours, stopping occasionally to introduce a new song or to select the winning ticket for a raffle. He entertained the audience with songs like the pseudo-Beatles cover Shalom, Shalom singing, “I don’t know why you say shalom, I say shalom.”

Mr. Goldish then accepted an invitation to play at the JASA Senior Alliance’s Holiday Party in Manhattan Beach on December 23rd. The set consisted of holiday songs, popular music, and traditional Yiddish folk songs. Mr. Goldish took requests from the center’s members for songs. One member even joined him on stage to play a traditional Russian ballad on the piano, while members danced traditional Yiddish dances.

The Volunteer Department would like to thank Mr. Goldish for all he has done for JASA and its members.



University of Mississippi Students Help Out at JASA

JASA was recently contacted by a group of college students from the University of Mississippi’s Honors College who, in the midst of planning a service trip to New York City, were looking to volunteer for two days with JASA. The students touched down in the city on December 11th, and on the 12th a group was off to attend the H.E.S. Senior Center holiday party. At the party, the students aided the H.E.S. staff in serving a multiple-course lunch. During their breaks from the kitchen, the students could be found on the dance floor, still clad in their aprons and plastic kitchen gloves. Caitlan Eeidt, the student group leader, said of the event, “It was a real joy to be a part of such a warm and festive event…We dreaded leaving, nor did they want us to!”

The following Monday, the students could be found at two of our other senior centers, one group up in the Bronx at Van Cortlandt Senior Center, and another down in Coney Island at the Luna Park Senior Center. At Van Cortlandt, the students helped with a craft project while socializing with the center’s members, then donned aprons and helped serve up lunch.
    
The Luna Park group spent time sitting with the center members, learning about life in Coney Island and sharing stories about their own hometowns. After serving lunch, the students accompanied center director Adrienne Slomin to Urban Neighborhood Services Inc., a local community organization. For the past weeks, members of the Luna Park Senior Center had been collecting coats to donate to UNS, and the delegation from Luna Park and their donations were well-received. One member of Luna Park, Morris, joined the students on a walk around Coney Island. “On the way, he showed them the home that he grew up in and some of the many Coney Island attractions he enjoyed as a teen, and the new ones that he enjoys now,” said Ms. Slomin.

“While other groups from our Honors College Sophomore Service trip did service projects including picking up litter and sorting books,” said Caitlan Eeidt, “I know that the groups that visited each of the JASA centers had an experience like none other.”

Sailors Visit JASA Williamsburg for Fleet Week

Check out this great article about a Fleet Week volunteer event at JASA Williamsburg Senior Center!
http://www.usa-patriotism.com/articles/tv/fleetweek_centers.htm

The JASA Van Cortlandt Senior Center has a whole new look thanks to the hard work of some great student volunteers from buildOn! On February 16th and 17th, it was hard to distinguish the JASA Van Cortlandt Game Room from an artist’s loft as Bronx high school students painted, glued, colored and decorated three large banners, a dozen posters and countless placemats and table decorations to spruce up the center. Over the two days, JASA Van Cortlandt hosted seventeen students and two buildOn staff members, all of whom braved the snow and chose to spend a day of their February vacation volunteering with JASA. In addition to the artwork, some students helped serve lunch to the senior center members, and one student volunteer even brought his guitar and played for the senior center members as they ate. The senior center members appreciated having the lively young visitors and will be able to enjoy their art work at the center for a long time to come.

buildOn is on international organization that strives for improvement through education and community service. In New York City, buildOn manifests as an after-school initiative for high school students. Students not only work to improve themselves through education and their communities through service, but also have the possibility to visit developing countries to build schools and promote literacy world-wide.

Answering the Call: A Community Forum on Healthy Aging and Civic Engagement

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