A Place in the World: The Lodz Day Care Center

For as long as he could remember, Marcin had spent most of his time as a pensioner in his tiny apartment in Lodz. Now he makes his way each morning to the Jewish Community Day Care Center (DCC), joining new friends and relishing his role as resident pianist.

Inaugurated by JDC more than two years ago with funding from the Luxembourg Fund for Victims of Nazi Persecution, the DCC has already had enormous impact on this small community of 300 Jews. In fact, it has changed the local perception of "the golden years" and has given its elderly members what Marcin calls "a place in the world again."

According to Ewa, the DCC director, a social worker who received specialized training from JDC in day care center management, "We give them everything they need at this point in their lives." Open five days a week from early morning to mid-afternoon, the center also keeps them very busy.

DCC programming includes everything from holiday craft projects and surfing the Internet to group occupational therapy and Claims Conference-supported individual physical therapy. Members also have assigned chores, such as watering the plants and reading the newspaper out loud. And, as beneficiaries of the JDC-supported community welfare program, they have their lunch in the kosher kitchen across the courtyard.

But the social camaraderie has been the real key to the DCC’s success, especially since most of its 20 or so regular participants are otherwise entirely alone. They look out for one another, calling anyone who is absent and staying in touch by telephone over the weekend. Friendships have developed; and even a few romances. The "Lodz DCC Family Tree" in the lobby says it all.

Ana, who has been a part of the DCC family since the beginning, often reminisces about her young life in Lodz with her late husband. After he died, though, she rarely left home and stopped caring for herself.

"When I started coming to the center, I finally had a reason to get out of my pajamas," she laughs. "It makes me feel beautiful to be here. I have a good feeling about being alive."