Honor. Community. Jewish Values.

Kavod Finishes Food & Hygiene Pantry, Celebrates Passover & Easter With Final Deliveries

Kavod Senior Life is slowly and strategically opening areas and services to our residents. The opposite is happening in our food pantry, which will be closing on April 19.

The closure is a POSITIVE development, the result of less restrictive public health orders, a decrease in citywide COVID-19 cases and availability of vaccinations. Most residents can now safely travel to stores or have outside groceries delivered.

“When the lockdown orders came in early 2020, we knew we needed to provide for our residents’ basic needs as they isolated at home,” says Michael Klein, President and CEO. “Thanks to the wonderful response from the community, we obtained sufficient food and other items to serve our campus for an entire year.”

Kavod has been very proud of the success of the pantry over the course of the last 12 months (April 2020 to April 2021), including:

–Completing 28 days of contactless staff deliveries (every-other week for a year)
–Averaging 240 households per distribution day
–Providing about 6,720 individual deliveries
–Distributing approximately 50,400 pounds of food and hygiene items (such as hand sanitizer, paper towels, canned goods and fresh produce)

“Residents have been so grateful for the supplies they’ve received from the pantry,” shares Kavod’s Outreach Specialist, Rebecca Gershten. “Everyone says thank you and shares how much they know Kavod is going out of its way to take care of them.”

As mentioned, special donations from outside organizations will allow Kavod to include Passover and Easter food and treats in its final deliveries. Kavod was established with Jewish roots but is officially nonsectarian and honors all faiths and traditions.

Residents received all food and hygiene items at no cost. A local farm, Ekar Farms, was especially generous in providing an abundance of fresh produce during the summer months. Kavod is grateful for the support of many individuals, corporations, foundations and government entities for underwriting this life-sustaining service to help keep older adults safe through the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the need for the pantry is phasing out, a resident led free food store on campus will continue to provide for those in need.