Jewish Family & Career Services Executive Director Judy Freundlich Tiell is pleased to announce Carole Snyder and her children, Sara Yamin and Rick Yamin, have endowed the JFCS Shabbos Friends Program in memory of Carole’s parents, Doris and Theodore Meyers.
Shabbos Friends is an outreach program to Jewish seniors living in local assisted living facilities and nursing homes. So often, Jewish seniors live in an environment that does not recognize or celebrate their Jewish heritage. This isolation from Jewish traditions and beliefs can often create negative consequences to their living arrangements and their well-being.
JFCS Shabbos Friends provides a monthly visit from a trained volunteer who brings the Jewish Sabbath into these facilities. Each volunteer travels with portable electric Sabbath candles, grape juice for the blessing over the wine and each resident receives his/her own fresh challah. Currently, more than 60 Jewish residents are visited in nine local facilities. More volunteers are needed to participate so that more seniors can receive a “Jewish” monthly visit.
When Carole Snyder heard about this new and exciting JFCS program, she knew she wanted to get more involved. Jewish traditions were an intrinsic part of her childhood and helped to create her strong dedication to Judaism.
As a child, she lived with her parents, grandmother and sister and learned early to respect and honor the needs of an older loved one. Her family life included traditional Sabbath dinners on Friday evenings, and Jewish holidays were celebrated with great preparation and deep meaning and included their extended family members, as well.
Carole’s mother, Doris, also had a great passion for the USO and the Jewish soldiers living at Fort Knox. It was extremely important to her that they be able to remain connected to their heritage while serving in the military. As a high school student, Carole can remember going to Fort Knox with her mother and some of her peers to help provide Sabbath Services for the soldiers living there at that time.
At Chanukah time, Carole’s father, Teddy, was known as “Mr. Chanukah” by his children and other family members and friends. Although he was busy working diligently to take care of his family, he too was devoted to creating a Jewish home for his family.
Carole shared that after her husband, Dick Yamin, passed away at 28 years of age, she moved back home to live with her parents. Carole was 25 years old with a two-year-old daughter, Sara, and another child (Rick) on the way. Sara and Rick blossomed and greatly benefited from the loving atmosphere of their new multi-generational family, and they, too, were taught the same Jewish values their mother had learned as a child. Their grandparents, Doris and Teddy Meyers, made a significant impact on their lives – teaching their grandchildren the basic Jewish principles of celebrating the Sabbath, performing regular Mitzvahs, helping to repair the world and living a Jewish life.
As Sara and Rick grew, the family attended religious services together on Saturday mornings, and Doris became instrumental in teaching Sara how to bake and cook. As Doris and Teddy aged, their family was there to help take care of them. Doris passed away in 1990 and Teddy in 1992.
“The JFCS Shabbos Friends Program is a perfect match and a perfect way to honor my parents”, Carole said. “They would have loved the concept of reaching out to seniors and sharing the basic traditions of Judaism with them, and it is pleasure to support JFCS in this way.
“We envision Shabbos Friends as a way of saying thank you to those who have taught us the importance of Jewish tradition, as well as the value of loving family and friends,” she continued. “Shabbos Friends will allow us to keep Jewish tradition alive for a valued part of our community.”
Both Carole Snyder and Sara Yamin are involved regularly with the program, as they both act as substitutes when a regularly scheduled volunteer is unable to visit their assigned facility. The Doris L. and Theodore B. Meyers JFCS Shabbos Friends Program will continue to touch the lives of local Jewish seniors for years to come”, stated Tiell. “We want to thank Carole, Sara and Rick for helping to enrich the lives of so many, while honoring your loved ones, as well.”