Jewish Family Service is committed to ensuring a good quality of life for older adults across the Lehigh Valley. In the next year, we will be working to expand two programs that piloted this year, both to great success: Mazel J Café and Mazel Meals.

Mazel J Café is a program bringing together older adults to boost cognitive function with fun programming. At the pilot program in April, nine participants enjoyed a session of chair yoga and a writing workshop as well as a meeting with Rabbi Seth Phillips from Congregation Keneseth Israel. The participants walked away smiling, eager to return for more.

Future sessions of the Mazel J Café will include programs like dog therapy and drumming circles.

Mazel Meals aims to help older adults who have trouble getting access to fresh, home-cooked kosher meals. At the pilot program in January, volunteers prepared kosher meals for older adults in the JCC kitchen, including a Shabbat chicken dish along with green beans and a carrot soufflé, with the help of ingredients donated by Whole Foods, Wegmans and Costco. These fresh meals were packaged and delivered in Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton. The packages also included minestrone soup made by the Jewish Day School, rice salad from Congregation Brith Sholom, challah from Congregation Keneseth Israel and chocolate chip cookies baked by the PJ Library children.

We are currently exploring how to extend Mazel Meals to more people in need across the Lehigh Valley. If you or anyone you know could benefit from these meals, please call Rebecca Axelrod-Cooper at 610-821-8722 or email her at racooper@jfslv.org.

Are you interested in volunteering for either of these programs? Contact Jewish Family Service at 610-821-8722 or visit JFS on Facebook.