Women’s Auxiliary Foundation for Jewish Aged, the newest supporting Foundation of Jewish Federation of St. Louis, has announced recipients of its first grant cycle. The foundation is focused on providing financial support for programs and organizations that ensure the dignity and honor of Jewish elderly in the St. Louis community. The following will receive grants:

• Alzheimer’s Association-St. Louis Chapter – Alzheimer’s Shabbat: To create an opportunity to connect all Jewish people in our community living with any form of memory loss and their families to their synagogue, the Jewish community and to the services of Alzheimer’s Association. 

• American Parkinson Disease Association-Greater St. Louis Chapter – Tremble Clefs: To allow the APDA-St. Louis Chapter to continue the Tremble Clefs program, which provides therapeutic activities and opportunities for social interaction for people with Parkinson disease through singing.

• Covenant Place Foundation – Covenant Place Redevelopment Project:To preserve Covenant Place, a supportive and affordable residential community for seniors on the Jewish Community’s Millstone Campus.  The grant will be used to create a warm, open and welcoming environment in the new Covenant Place I building when it opens in April 2016.

• Crown Center for Senior Living – Circle@Crown Café: To help underwrite the cost of operating the Circle@Crown Café.  The Circle@Crown Café is an attractive and inviting café/coffee house recently created within the Crown Center.  The café is another program of Crown Center — an added method to help seniors live independently by bolstering the factors that prevent decline in the elderly-positively impacting their health and well-being.

• Jewish Family & Children’s Service: ElderLink Expansion: To fill the gap of aging adults who are isolated by the nature of their problems such as memory loss or depression and are incapable of following through with recommendations made to them on the phone. This grant will help provide increased advocacy through home visits and in person office consultations, to provide assistance with filling out applications, education regarding durable power of attorney, and connecting with resources.  

• St. Louis NORC – Wii in the NORC: To offer a new St. Louis NORC activity that will endure over time to promote healthy aging through socialization, mental and physical stimulation for older adults served by St. Louis NORC. The Wii console is a tool that not only is a health-promoting activity, but is fun and also has the capacity to persuasively engage seniors to be active participants.

• Collaborative effort to create gift bags for elderly members of congregations: Women’s Philanthropy and members of the community will make gift bags with these funds for Congregation B’nai Amoona, Central Reform Congregation and Temple Emanuel to distribute to their elderly members. This will alleviate feelings of isolation and make elderly members feel more connected to their congregation and the Jewish community.

Women’s Auxiliary Foundation for Jewish Aged is focused on providing financial support for programs and organizations that ensure the dignity and honor of the Jewish elderly in the community at large. Jewish Federation and Women’s Auxiliary Foundation created a partnership to leverage the expertise, resources and leadership of both organizations to best meet the needs of the Jewish elderly community in St. Louis. To learn more, visit JFedSTL.org/About-Us/Womens-Auxiliary-Foundation or contact Mindee Fredman at [email protected] or 314-442-3734.