Learning to Give, Curriculum Division of The LEAGUE

In 1976, DOROT (“generations” in Hebrew) was founded by a group of Columbia graduate students who observed that the needs of frail elderly were not being met in their community. The group was also dismayed at the deprivation of not having known and learned from this significantly older generation. As a result these students created an organization that eased the isolation of the elderly and helped them remain independent and age in place. At the same time, the students' volunteer work on behalf of the elderly helped give meaning and purpose to their own lives.

From its beginnings as a grassroots neighborhood organization, DOROT has grown into an agency whose 32 core programs reflect the values articulated by Abraham Joshua Heschel: “ The test of a people is how it behaves towards the old .” Today, DOROT is the largest volunteer based organization in the country serving 10,000 seniors and caregivers per year, generally in the New York metropolitan area, regardless of ethnicity, age, and religious affiliation.

DOROT mobilizes volunteers to provide services to frail and homebound elderly through a service corps of approximately 9,000 volunteers each year; over 2,000 are under the age of 18. DOROT's motto, “Generation Helping Generation,” has guided its service to the elderly for 28 years. To learn more about DOROT and volunteer opportunities, please visit at www.dorotusa.org or call us at 212-769-2850.

It is DOROT's mission to achieve three goals:

• Enhance the lives of the elderly through a dynamic partnership of volunteers and professionals;
• Foster beneficial interaction between the generations;
• Provide education, guidance and leadership in developing volunteer-based programs for the elderly, nationally and internationally.

Aging in Place

Today, the United States and the rest of the world are in the midst of a sharp upsurge in the elderly population. The 2000 census reports the number of Americans aged 85 and older—the fastest-growing segment of the population—will more than double between the years 2000 to 2030. As they grow old, most people will want and need to age in place in their own homes.

Our home represents security and independence. Many older adults experience physical and mental challenges as they age and need services and support that maximize their independence and ability to stay in their home for as long as possible. Although many older adults today prefer living at home, a time comes for many when disability or illness results in an inability to manage their own care. But until that time, older adults living in their own homes need community services and support networks.

DOROT Profile:

The seniors we serve range in age from 59 to 104. Among them:

• 90% are women
• 95% live alone
• 60% cannot leave their homes without assistance
• 75% have difficulty performing daily activities such as dressing, washing, and cooking
• 35% are blind or sight-impaired
• 52% live on less than $10,000 a year

As DOROT's reputation has grown, individuals and organizations throughout the country and abroad have increasingly turned to us for support in developing elder-friendly communities.

Below are six sections that highlight a specific DOROT program and the needs it addresses: Homelessness Prevention Program , Kosher Meals for the Homebound, University Without Walls, Friendly Visiting Program , Generations Institute at DOROT and Family and Youth Volunteer Services.

In 1983, in response to the increasing numbers of low and middle-income seniors who were being forced out of their homes due to escalating rents and cost of living, DOROT established the Homelessness Prevention Program (HPP). Over the years, we have observed that a middle-income elder can suddenly become homeless as a result of one life-altering event – a health emergency, costly hospital stay, loss of work, or death of a wage-earning relative.

The HPP offers temporary housing, emotional support, and relocation assistance to homeless seniors. Our Aftercare Program provides ongoing follow-up care to help the elderly maintain their permanent homes, settle into independent living, and become active members of the community.

In 1985, DOROT established Kosher Meals for the Homebound (KMH) in response to the growing number of frail homebound elderly who could not remain in their own homes without the assistance of a kosher food program. The program fills a critical need for DOROT's clients; it ensures that homebound seniors maintain appropriate healthy diets, preventing malnutrition and reducing susceptibility to serious, often life-threatening illnesses.

DOROT's KMH meal recipients are mostly 80-95 years old; 90% are female. The majority live on fixed incomes of under $15,000 per year. These elders become increasingly more frail and homebound; most have impaired mobility and cannot shop or cook for themselves. The majority have no other social service agency affiliation and depend on DOROT for their food as well as educational and socialization programs.

University Without Walls (UWW) is a teleconferencing community. DOROT connects a number of people simultaneously via the telephone and is a means to create a community for the homebound through conference call classes and support groups.

For homebound individuals, opportunities to interact with others, share ideas, learn about new subjects, make new friends, and take advantage of community resources are severely limited. Homebound individuals are more likely to live alone. Not surprisingly, therefore, increasing mobility difficulties are associated with social isolation. Such isolation is most profoundly experienced by frail seniors who consequently develop a lack of self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness, and a sense that they have been “forgotten.”

UWW alleviates the lack of mental stimulation often experienced by the disabled and homebound. An established, 16-year-old program, UWW enables homebound individuals to participate in educational courses, support groups, and holiday celebrations from their homes, all via the telephone. In 1999, the United Nations recognized this unique initiative with its National Award for Excellence in Aging Programs.

One of DOROT's two original programs created in 1976, Friendly Visiting matches volunteers with homebound seniors, with the goal of creating meaningful friendships across the generations. Volunteers agree to visit seniors on a weekly basis for at least a year. Friendly Visitors become a critical lifeline: volunteers read to seniors who are blind, help seniors with paperwork, and keep them connected to the community.

During the winter of 1996, when New York City was besieged by snowstorms, DOROT piloted a medical escort service. This service was in such demand that DOROT established Shop & Escort ; which enables frail and homebound elderly to remain in their own homes by helping them manage the necessary activities of daily living.

The Generations Institute at DOROT is dedicated to helping students and professionals acquire knowledge and skills and gain an understanding of issues confronting the frail elderly. Founded in 1999, the Institute was established with the understanding that our society is made stronger by promoting the connection between the generations. By enhancing relationships among people of all generations, new opportunities are created, lives are enriched and communities are strengthened.

The Generations Institute includes the Fellowship/Internship program, and the Resource Center which provide a hub for professional networking and dialogue, conferences and workshops, technical assistance and research and publication.

Since the summer of 2001, the Family & Youth Volunteer Services department is divided into three areas:

1. Family Volunteering
2. Teen Volunteer Interns and B'nai Mitzvah Students
3. Service Learning Programs and Workshops for Synagogue, School and Youth Organizations.

Family Circle : Founded in 1998 for families with children, aged 4 to 12, volunteers come together several times a year to learn about Jewish holidays, Jewish values and the needs of the elderly and participate in Holiday Package Deliveries. Family Circle enables seniors to share their life experiences with the young, while families enrich the lives of an older person.

Family Birthday Mitzvah Program: Founded in 2003, the Birthday Mitzvah Program provides families the opportunity to deliver birthday cakes and presents to seniors for their birthdays. Families take time to visit, share some cake and help celebrate the special day.

BookBridge: Founded in 2003, BookBridge is an intergenerational book club. Families with children in grades 4-8 and DOROT seniors read the same book on their own time and gather at DOROT to discuss the book.

2) Teen Internship Program & B'nai Mitzvah Students

Since launching this program in Summer 2001, DOROT has engaged hundreds of teen interns and thousands of youth volunteers who have helped transform the bleak lives of homebound seniors. Teen volunteer interns are those youth who volunteer on their own time, after school or during school vacation.

Over the past three years, DOROT has developed a model to recruit, train, supervise, and engage teen interns in service to the elderly. In addition, through hands-on volunteer projects, hundreds of local teens maintain an ongoing commitment to DOROT and its intergenerational support for frail seniors. Through informal learning and volunteer experiences, our students gain an understanding of the challenges presented by aging, loss, and loneliness.

DOROT offers a myriad of episodic or ongoing intergeneration programs and service learning projects for schools, synagogues and youth organizations. Last year, we worked with approximately 125 different groups.

Together, let us strive to pass Heschel's test of a people and build a better world for the elderly.

Judith Turner, MA, Ed.M is the Director of Family and Youth Volunteer Services at DOROT.