Press Releases
Homebound Mitzvah Program to Reach Out To Over 2000 Seniors over High Holidays
West Palm Beach, FL, August 4, 2009 – Now in its thirteenth year, the MorseLife Homebound Mitzvah Program and its volunteers will make a difference to more than 2000 Jewish frail homebound seniors over the High Holidays who otherwise would not be able to experience its joys and traditions. This year, more than 300 volunteers of all ages and from all walks of life will have prepared Homebound Mitzvah Program packages and will deliver them on Wednesday, September 16th to seniors throughout Palm Beach County and vicinity.
The High Holidays, the most important period of prayer, reflection and celebration of the New Year for Jewish people, begin with Rosh Hashanah on the evening Friday, September 18th and end with Yom Kippur which begins on the evening of Sunday, September 27th.
Homebound Mitzvah Program volunteers will gather for their deliveries on the MorseLife campus at 4847 Fred Gladstone Drive (off Haverhill Road) in West Palm Beach, and on the Jewish Community Center campus in Boynton Beach at 8500 Jog Road from 8:30 until 3:30 pm.
Volunteers deliver packages to the homes of area Jewish seniors that include kosher meals, prayer books, a DVD of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services, and other tradition items. Just as important, volunteers provide “quality time” to Homebound Mitzvah Program recipients – sitting and talking with them for a while to bring some additional warmth to the delivery.
Since 1997, the Homebound Mitzvah Program has been reaching out to the area’s homebound elders in hopes of diminishing the loneliness and isolation frequently felt over Jewish holidays. It was founded by Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz, who had nurtured a similar program called Dorot in New York to help isolated seniors, and is made possible through the generosity of community philanthropists called “Mitzvah Makers” and through a grant from the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County.
For more information about the Homebound Mitzvah Program, call (561) 616-0707.