DC's Supermarket Program:
A Recipe for Dignity
MOSCOW - For years, Irina, an elderly shut-in, depended on the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) to deliver prepared meals to her flat in Moscow. Today, she's proudly cooking her own meals again.
Irina is a member of JDC's new Supermarket Program. Each month, a local JDC Hesed worker stops by with a bag of groceries and helps stock the refrigerator. By providing shut-ins with these supplies, JDC enables Irina to decide for herself which dishes to prepare and how to prepare them, all according to her own taste. The new approach allows elderly shut-ins to regain a measure of their self-reliance."It's a miracle," Irina smiles. "I feel much happier doing these things for myself. I always knew I could."
"By bringing the supermarket to the client, we're improving things on several levels," says Steve Schwager, JDC's Director for the former Soviet Union. "Our experience with the elderly shut-ins who live by themselves has shown us that they have certain capabilities. By graduating the level of our support to their level of need, we enable them to do more for themselves. The result is a greater feeling of self-respect."
One of the other benefits of the Supermarket Program is its cost. By providing the ingredients of meals instead of the pre-cooked portions themselves, JDC enables each low-income senior to have the meals they want, the way they like it at less than half the cost of the pre-cooked meals delivered by JDC's Meals on Wheels program.
By reducing the cost of the meals, JDC can significantly increase the food relief they provide to a broader range of seniors. The success of this program is also a blessing for the local JDC Hesed community center kitchen, whose resources are hard put to meet the demands of the Meals-On-Wheels program.
Each month program participants receive an assortment of staples including chicken, fish fillets, vegetable oil, sugar, kasha, beetroot, macaroni, tea, cheese, butter, potatoes, onions, carrots, apples, and bread. Additional groceries are delivered as they are in season.
"One of our goals is to empower those who can, to help themselves," Schwager points out. "Many of these seniors can't make it up or down the many flights of stairs in their building, but they can get around inside their apartment. This program enables them to feel more like the head of their household, rather than its prisoner. They may not be able to manage a trip to the store, but now they can manage their own diet."
Another plus is that each client can still look forward to a visit by the local Hesed homecare worker when the groceries are delivered. For many, this company is the only human contact they have with the outside world. The homecare workers are given sensitivity training and lessons on the therapeutic aspects of their interaction with elderly clients.
"This is another example of how JDC's long experience in the field allows us to fine tune a good idea into a great idea," Schwager contends. "The Supermarket Program means JDC can bring more appropriate welfare support to a greater number of clients in need. It also carries the basic JDC principle of empowerment. Thanks to the Supermarket Program, these seniors are no longer totally dependent on others."
Irina, for one, thinks the program is a smart idea. "I know best how to cook for myself. Sure, they provide the ingredients, but the recipes I cook from were my mother's. I'm the only one who can cook it this way. And now when I'm cooking, one sniff and you know whose home you're in. It's wonderful."
by Beth Lebenson
