Testimonials
Michael J. Kremins
President
Jewish Lawyers Guild
Dear Mr. Kremins,
Our very warmest thanks for arranging for a most generous gift of $5,000 from the Jewish Lawyers Guild for Selfhelp’s Holocaust Survivor Guardianship program.
Selfhelp is the only agency in North America with a dedicated unit that exists exclusively to provide Guardianship services to Holocaust survivors. This program provides progressive levels of care, depending on each individual’s needs, including Court-appointed Guardianship services for those individuals who can no longer make decisions related to their own domestic or financial affairs. The Jewish Lawyers Guild gift will be used to support the highly specialized services of this program that allow survivors who are rapidly declining to retain their independence and dignity during the final chapter of their lives. Unlike our New York City funded Community Guardian Program, the Holocaust Survivor Guardianship program receives no government funding and is solely reliant on philanthropic support.
Guardianship powers are specified on a case-by-case basis. Staff take on only those financial, personal, and medical decision-making responsibilities that are necessary to maintain each client’s well-being – in effect, “the least restrictive form of intervention which assists them in meeting their needs but, at the same time, permits them to exercise the independence and self-determination of which they are capable.” We at Selfhelp believe it is of the utmost importance that Holocaust survivors, who have already experienced so much trauma and loss, are able to maintain whatever control over their lives that they possibly can. Below is a vignette illustrating the unique services provided by this program.
Mr. G, a 101-year old Holocaust survivor, was referred to the Selfhelp Holocaust Survivor Guardianship unit by a New York State (NYS) Supreme Court Judge. Mr. G. had been assessed as cognitively impaired, and was forced to surrender his apartment and enter a nursing home prior to Selfhelp’s involvement. Selfhelp social workers discovered that Mr. G’s care in the nursing home was not all it should be. He felt that the staff was anti-Semitic when they refused to provide him with kosher food (“because he wouldn’t know the difference”). The staff also shaved Mr. G’s head against his will, which can be one of the most re-traumatizing events for a Holocaust survivor. The Selfhelp Guardian quickly arranged for Mr. G to move to a Jewish nursing home where he received the care he needed and deserved.
Mr. G thrived in his new environment, attending Shabbat services, singing and even dancing at social events. He had no living relatives, and valued tremendously the friendship and support of his social worker from the Selfhelp Guardianship unit who would bring him rugelach, babka and other kosher treats. For his 102nd birthday, The Guardianship team made a little party where they talked and sang together. Mr. G enjoyed the marble cheesecake the staff brought to commemorate the event.
Shortly after he turned 102, Mr. G began experiencing a series of medical issues that led to a diagnosis of metastatic cancer. The Selfhelp Guardianship team worked closely with him and his medical team to ensure that he received appropriate medical treatment without it being overly aggressive, and that he was provided with comfort and treated with dignity. As his needs intensified, Mr. G was placed under the care of a Jewish hospice agency.
At Mr. G’s funeral, there were three mourners in attendance, all from the Selfhelp Guardianship team who arranged a traditional Jewish burial for this beloved Holocaust survivor. Mr. G was buried next to his wife.
In this case, and others, Selfhelp served as Mr. G’s last surviving relative, which has been part of our mission since 1936.
Thank you again for this most generous donation. You may send the donation to:
Lois Deutsch
Selfhelp Community Services Foundation
520 Eighth Avenue, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10018
Please direct any future inquiries about this program to Lois’ attention. She can be reached at (212) 971-7621 or ldeutsch@selfhelp.net.
Sincerely,
Stuart
Stuart C. Kaplan
Chief Executive Officer
Selfhelp Community Services, Inc.
212-971-7723
Hassenfeld Children's Hospital at NYU Langone
January 2, 2018
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Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert
July 16, 2018
Thank you for the Jewish Lawyers Guild’s contribution of $4,000 to JALBCA at our Awards Presentation Dinner on May 14, 2018 to fund a mammogram van. Its support enables JALBCA to provide free mammogram screenings for under- and uninsured women and helped us raise of $1 million at the Dinner. Thanks!
Edible Leftovers Inc.
In the name of tens of families in the New York metropolitan area, I want to thank you for your unbelievably generous donation from your recent event at the New York Hilton.
For the past 25 years our organization has worked with kosher caterers to capture leftover food at large weddings, conventions , Bar & Bat Mitzvot, Passover hotels and other events. Since our inception we have picked up and distributed food from more than 5,000 events. All the food that we pick up is distributed to needy families who approach us for food. Our organization has no paid employees with all of our work done by volunteers. We have been collaborating with Mauzone Caterers and Main Event for more than 20 years and we have rescued millions of pounds of perfect food from their parties.
Your dinner was especially gratifying to us. Throughout the past weeks we were inundated by phone calls from people requesting food for the upcoming Purim holiday. The calls came from people who have literally no food in their houses. One family of five had eaten only bread and jam last Wednesday and Thursday. I was very depressed , thinking of how families such as these could celebrate the most joyous holiday on the Jewish calendar with nothing to eat.
But you and Mauzone came to the rescue. At 7:30 Monday night, when you completed the buffet dinner and entered the ballroom, our crew entered the kitchen area and packed up all the excess food in our disposable pans. More than 50 large pans of delicious meat, chicken, fish and all other delicacies were loaded into our van and transported to one of our distribution sites in Rockland County. Unfortunately, my vocabulary is too limited to adequately describe reaction of some of the recipient families. Tears of joy was streaming down many faces. You transformed sorrow to happiness.
On behalf of tens of families and hundreds of people, i want to thank you for providing them with Purim Seudot and additional food that they will enjoy for weeks.
You have helped fulfill the saying "To the Jews there was light and gladness, and joy and honor". You have enabled these families to celebrate Purim with merriment and most importantly with dignity.
May you and your families enjoy the upcoming Purim with the realization that you are fulfilling the Mitzvah of Matanot L'Evyonim & Seudat Purim in the truest sense. A heartfelt thank you.
Sincerely,
Benny Wechsler
