August 24, 1999
LAWRENCE -- A gift of $23,000 from the Jewish Heritage Foundation of Greater Kansas City will enable four University of Kansas social welfare students to work at the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, Dean Ann Weick announced today.
The foundation's gift to the Kansas University Endowment Association will support a joint project between KU's School of Social Welfare and the Jewish Community Center. The goal of the project is to enhance the quality of life for senior members of the community.
"The Board of the Jewish Heritage Foundation and its executive director, Steven Israelite, deserve to be commended for their commitment to expanding services to senior adults in the Jewish community and their vision of helping them remain healthy and productive as they age," Weick said. "We're very pleased to be working with the Jewish Community Center in these innovative program efforts."
The grant will create a special student unit at the Jewish Community Center designed to work on the center's senior-adult activity program. Up to four students in the master of social work degree program will work in the unit during the 1999-2000 academic year, fulfilling their practicum requirement.
The students and their supervisor, a social work doctoral student, will create programs to meet the interests and needs of elders, which may include social, recreational, educational, and health and welfare services.
The Jewish Heritage Foundation was created when Menorah Medical Center joined Health Midwest. The foundation's primary mission is to enhance health and human services in greater Kansas City with a priority of serving the Jewish community.
The gift will be administered by the KU Endowment Association, an independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management foundation for the University of Kansas. Founded in 1891, the KU Endowment Association is the oldest foundation of its kind at a public university in the United States and one of the largest.
Story by Val Renault