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COA Open House – a community working together for seniors

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Attitude shift

Attitude shift

To celebrate Seniors’ Week last month, COA Sydney held an Open House with a difference. Instead of just showing off the many services and volunteer programs it offers, COA invited representatives of all the local Jewish organisations working in the aged care space to set up stalls where they could feature their services. The idea was to allow Jewish seniors and their families to see the full continuum of care available to them. More than 150 people attended and spoke with representatives from Jewish House, B’nai B’rith Retirement Villages, Burger Centre, JewishCare, Montefiore and Wolper Jewish Hospital. There were also independent discussion groups for seniors: the monthly JNF Morning Tea at the COA Centre, Sunday Discussions @ Random and University of the Third Age (which presents weekly on Fridays at the COA Centre). Of course, COA activities were also well represented, with separate tables for popular weekly groups knitting, art and bridge.

This event was not just a smorgasbord of information; it was also an opportunity to engage seniors in practical demonstrations of Tai Chi and modified Zumba. There were 30-minute demonstrations per activity and up to 22 people at a time joined in.

Wolper Jewish Hospital also presented its “Move Well” program, which is open to the public and is particularly targeted at seniors wanting to remain healthy while ageing.

No Jewish event is complete without food and the other highlight of the day was lunch, consisting of samples from

If we had delivered 21000 Kosher Meals-on-Wheels last year and nothing more…

If we had provided over 9200 free COA Fresh bags and nothing more...

If we had presented 3200 client days of culture and activities and nothing more

If we had prepared and served 2600 meals from our kitchen and nothing more

If we had enabled 4600 journeys to and from COA and nothing more

If we had offered over 900 places at special events and nothing more…

If we had arranged 1000 Shabbat services to Jewish residents in aged care facilities and nothing more

If we had invovled 220 volunteers in helping their community and nothing more...

But COA has done all of this and so much more in the last 12 months.

Come into the COA’s Krygier Drop-in Centre and find out what we can do for you and your loved ones

25 Rowe St, Woollahra

Ph: 9389 0035

Email: coa@coasydney.org www.coasydney.org

COA’s Kosher Meals-on-Wheels menu. People’s faces lit up when they realised these were the same meals they could access through the Meals program. COA saw an increase in orders from the next working day.

COA sincerely thanks all the organisations that were part of the event, along with the volunteers and staff whose diligent work made it possible. It was great to see the genuine comradery between staff from the diverse organisations that serve the same clients in our community. With so many people offering so much, no senior in our community needs to feel isolated, or lack the help they require. They just need to reach out to find all the companionship, activities and services they need to live a full and active life in retirement.

Email: info@sck.org.au

Website: www.sck.org.au

KYLIE ORA LOBELL COURTESY: AISH.COM

Josh Aryeh is helping sick children live out their dreams.

When Josh Aryeh was a child growing up in the Five Towns, New York, he was surrounded by wealth. He got picked on in school for not having what the other kids did. So, he decided that when he grew up, he’d become Bruce Wayne. He’d be incredibly rich and own private jets, beautiful houses and, of course, exotic cars.

As he got older, his priorities shifted, but he retained his love of sports cars. He ended up working for wealthy friends and would enjoy driving their fancy cars when he was running errands for them.

One day, Aryeh realised that if he loved these kinds of cars when he was a child, other kids must love them too. He started calling different organisations who help children with cancer to see if any of the kids would want to ride in one of the sports cars – with permission from the owners, of course.

Aryeh received a call from the family of an eight-year-old girl in Queens. She was sick and her dream was to ride around in a Lamborghini. He drove over there, excited to see the little girl’s reaction.

“When she saw this bright yellow convertible Lamborghini, her face lit up,” Aryeh said. “She had one of the biggest smiles you’ve ever seen. Her parents took her out of her wheelchair and we drove around for 15 minutes.”

After returning to the house, the girl’s mother started crying hysterically. Aryeh was worried.

“I said to her, ‘If I did something wrong or insensitive, please let me know.’ I thought it was maybe something I said. She said, ‘No, you don’t understand. My daughter got cancer when she was four. She’s had over 20 surgeries. She was partially paralysed from an infection. This is the first time I’ve seen her smile since her diagnosis.’”

Aryeh saw what an impact he could make and he wanted to do more.

“At the end of the day it was just a car,” he said, “but I realised I could make a huge impact. I shifted my focus from wanting to be Bruce Wayne to using these cars for a greater purpose.”

Aryeh decided that he was not only going to drive up in a nice car; he was also going to dress as Batman. He’d heard about Lenny B. Robinson, a Jewish man who would visit sick children in hospital dressed as Batman. Sadly, Robinson was killed after he got out of his Batmobile on the side of a highway and another car hit him.

“I never got to meet Lenny, but I wanted to continue his legacy,” Aryeh said. “I decided to become Batman as well.”

Smiles Through Cars

Today, Aryeh has formally established his organisation, Smiles Through Cars, as a non-profit. He volunteers all day Sunday through Thursday, going on hospital visits and sending his friends out in superhero and princess costumes.

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