A new day center facility for the elderly in the Chareidi community is being built in the Romema neighborhood of Jerusalem. The new center, which will allow the elderly from the Chareidi community to receive care, socialize, and participate in social welfare activities organized by the municipality, will cost the city tens of millions of shekels.

The center, which is being built by the Jerusalem Foundation in partnership with city hall, and the NGO Misgav for the elderly, has already had its groundbreaking ceremony. It will be the first facility of its kind in the city.

The activities in the day center will be implemented while keeping in mind the culture and lifestyle of the community which it is meant to serve.

Mayor Moshe Lion together with the President of the Jerusalem Foundation, Shai Doron, the Director of Social Insurance, The CEO of the Jerusalem Foundation Anat Tzur, Director of Misgav for the elderly Tamar Schiff, as well as other dignitaries, all participated in the ground-breaking ceremony.

According to the report that was submitted to the Finance Committee of the city, The Jerusalem Foundation and Misgav raised some 26,000,000 NIS from various foundations and donors all over the world in order to help facilitate this project. The city of Jerusalem added the additional 10,000,000 NIS to help complete the financial support of the project.

The city is in dire need of such a day center for this population, as there are more than 80 thousand elderly people who live in the city, and roughly 20 percent of those are Chareidi men. Currently, there is no such center for Chareidi elderly in the city.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)