Jewish Care

Last week, Baroness Deech, DBE, recounted her family’s story of Holocaust survival to an intimate audience of lawyers, accountants and professional advisors at a Jewish Care legacy event.

Baroness Deech

Although her parents had been able to escape Poland and make a new life for themselves in England, many members of her family perished in the Holocaust. Dame Ruth expressed unqualified admiration for Jewish Care’s Holocaust Survivors’ Centre and highlighted the importance of such a place and the vital need to continue to support it.

The Centre is a place where survivors who are still struggling with the legacy of the Holocaust meet and socialise in a safe and friendly environment, as well as receive support if they need it.

Simon Morris, Jewish Care’s Chief Executive, updated the audience on the development of Jewish Care’s new care campus in Golders Green, due to open this summer. He explained that a philanthropic gift from one estate helped to ensure that it will become a reality for the community.

Mr Morris went on to talk about the diverse range of services Jewish Care offers to the Jewish community, from Centres for Wellbeing for people with mental health needs to Day Centres which help combat isolation and physical and mental deterioration for the wider community, or care homes for people who can no longer care for themselves.

He explained that many of Jewish Care’s services struggle with funding, as central and local government do not make any contributions and that they therefore rely on voluntary income and legacies to meet the costs of providing these services to the community.

Simon Morris commented: “Legacies play such a vital role in Jewish Care’s fundraising - one third of our voluntary income comes from legacies. We urge people to leave a legacy to Jewish Care in their will, so we can continue to care for people who can no longer care for themselves, support those who are trying to remain independent, as well as those families struggling to care for their loved ones.”

Richard Mintz, long-standing trustee and member of Jewish Care’s legacy committee said: “The community would be significantly impoverished without Jewish Care, which would not survive without the voluntary support it receives. Legacies are a vitally significant part of this and, if Jewish Care is to survive, they need to continue to be so.”