Caring stories at the heart ofRoshHashanahappeal
Violet Cohen ( centre) making friends at the Sobell day centre on Jewish Care’s Golders Green campus
THE STORIES of Londoners whose lives have been transformed by Jewish Care over the past year are the basis of the charity’s Rosh Hashanah appeal, which has a target of £200,000-plus.
One of those featured is Indian-born Violet Cohen. Her husband Morris was a major in the British Army in India during the Second World War and they came to England after partition in 1947, settling in Finchley. After he died 20 years ago, Mrs Cohen kept active.
“I didn’t give up work until my 80th birthday. I had to give up because I couldn’t drive anymore. I love my independence.”
H o w e v e r , t h i s w a s threatened by a serious back injury whi c h l e f t her unable to move. Looking to “find some- Beryl and David Cohen thing in my life”, she contacted Jewish Care. Now “the care bus picks me up on a Monday and I go [to the Sobell day centre in Golders Green] and sit, have a coffee, meet friends and we talk. “It is wonderful. I feel part of the community and look forward to going because it is something for me to occupy my time and meet new people.” Another featured in the appeal is David Cohen, 89, who thanks the for meeting Beryl, his wife for 61 years. “In 1954 there was an advert in the talking about a club called the Hendon Social and Literary Society, which met in people’s homes in north London,” he recalled. A friend saw the advert and they decided to try it out. “So we went and I saw this gorgeous young girl over on the other side of the room — that’s how it all started.” His wife now has Alzheimer’s and twice a week attends Jewish Care’s Sam B e c k m a n d a y c e n - tre in Friern Barnet for those with memory impairment, affording Mr Cohen the opportunity for “a bit of self time”. The day centre was “absolutely first class”, he said, and Mr Cohen used his “self time” to go to the Sobell. “Then I collect my wife at three o’ clock and bring her home.”
Daniel Carmel-Brown, Jewish Care’s fundraising chief, said appeal proceeds would aid services like “our helpline, centres for people living with dementia and community centres which receive little or no government funding”.