Wilf senior campus looks at year of growth
At the 38th annual meeting of the Oscar and Ella Wilf Campus for Senior Living in Somerset on Dec. 4, members marked a year of significant benchmarks and outlined plans for the coming months.
CEO Susan Harris talked about the campus’s growth. “In four years, we have increased our overall operating budget by $3.5 million,” she said. “Two functioning agencies and a small start-up hospice have turned into seven functioning campus agencies, and a staff of fewer than 90 became a staff of 130.”
According to Harris, the campus’s Martin and Edith Stein Hospice has tripled in size since 2009. People want “Jewish hospice,” she said, noting that Stein has contracted for the first time with a nursing home in Union County as part of expansion efforts.
The campus also comprises the Stein Assisted Living Residence and its Jaffa Gate Memory Care Neighborhood, the Lena and David T. Wilentz Senior Residence, and the Regency Jewish Heritage Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
In addition to other improvements, Harris said, the Wilentz residence received a grant to remodel its apartment kitchens. Wilf Transport completed its first full year of service, in partnership with Parker Home’s Adult Day Center, and is planning to expand the program, which received a collaborative grant with the JCC of Middlesex County in Edison from the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County to provide transportation for their monthly Shabbat Connects program.
An advisory committee has been formed to establish Wilf at Home — to help older adults continue to live in their own homes independently — in 2014. Wilf at Home is also looking at the development of a concierge model in collaboration with a Union County synagogue.
Harris reported on some of the expansion plans, including construction of a building for corporate and hospice offices and a conference center.
The Wilf Foundation is finalizing a new Planned Giving Program and developing the Naming and Dedication fund-raising campaign. In collaboration with the Middlesex federation’s Jewish Family and Vocational Service, Wilf has established space in the agency’s Monroe Township office for meetings and educational programs.
Incoming campus officers include president Monté Block of East Brunswick, first vice president Paula Masciulli of Monroe Township, vice president David Wormser of East Brunswick, secretary Joan Litt of East Brunswick, treasurer Ivan Greenstein of East Brunswick, and assistant treasurer Lori Franzon of Chester. New trustees are Dr. Morton Altman and Carol Bender of Somerset and Marilyn Goldsmith of East Brunswick.
Block acknowledged the contributions made by two community leaders — Herb Goldstein and Sam Halpern — who passed away this year.
Masciulli talked about the new programs in the works and said that the new executive director, David Rosenberg, “has been reaching out to leaders in the community to research and develop those programs. We have so much to be thankful for,” she said, “and we have so much to accomplish to continue to ease the lives of our seniors in the coming year.”
“May we all continue from strength to strength in our service to older adults in the greater Jewish community,” concluded Harris.
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