Chabad Launches Free Meal Program for Jewish Seniors in West Palm Beach, FL

by Ellen Braunstein – chabad.org

Chabad of West Palm Beach, Fla., has teamed up with Palm Beach County to provide free kosher lunches to seniors.

The kosher food program is the first of its kind to be offered by the county, which has 13 other free meal sites.

As many as 50 meals a day are served from November to April in south Florida’s West Palm Beach. Off season, attendance drops somewhat. Jewish participants have welcomed the food and camaraderie offered at the Chabad center.

“It’s a pleasure to be able to come here and meet with other Jews and enjoy the meal,” said Phyllis Plotnick, who lunches regularly at Chabad with her husband, Alan. “I’m just so thankful we don’t have to sit in our house by ourselves.”

This is Plotnick’s first contact with Chabad but she says now that they know of it, they plan to attend more programs sponsored by the Chassidic Jewish organization.

But there’s more than just food and fellowship on offer, according to Rabbi Yoel Gancz, who directs Chabad of West Palm Beach with his wife, Chaya.

Gancz helps put tefillin on the men who attend and shares words of Torah with them as well. “It’s really nice. I have that element of being able to infuse some spirituality with the hot meal they are getting,” he said.

Gancz is also privy to hearing hopeful stories. “One elderly man told me he hasn’t eaten kosher food in many, many years. He was so overjoyed that he has the opportunity to eat kosher the way he did when he was a young child,” he told Chabad.org.

‘Their One Hot Meal for the Day’

The program launched six months ago. Since then, registered seniors, 60 and up, dine every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, except on Jewish holidays.

Gancz said the lunches meet different needs for seniors. “There are those who are actually in need of the food and it may be their one hot meal for the day,” he said. “There are others who are lonely and take the opportunity to simply get together with other seniors and have some good food. Others come just for the convenience of having a meal they don’t have to prepare.”

The initiative began when Susan Koester, operations supervisor for Palm Beach County Senior and Veteran Services, approached Gancz earlier this year with the idea of providing kosher meals to Jewish seniors.

Koester is pleased by the results of their collaboration: “It’s a great location and very successful. This is a good idea because we have a significant Jewish population in Palm Beach County.”

The county is reimbursed by the federal government for the meals, but not for the surplus cost of kosher food. When putting together a proposal, Gancz called several kosher caterers and discovered it would be three times more expensive than non-kosher food.

Gancz is seeking community partners who want to sponsor the extra cost of kosher meals for a week or month. Meanwhile, Chabad budgets for the increased cost.

A Varied Menu

The meals are meat, poultry, fish and vegetarian. Because the Chabad facility has a meat kitchen, dairy is not served. The caterer packs the food and brings it to the Chabad Center, where it’s placed in a warmer or the refrigerator.

The most popular meals are grilled salmon and falafel with side dishes, according to Gancz.

The Chabad Center is small, only 2,000 square feet. On meal days, folding tables, chairs, plastic table cloths and cutlery are brought out for the meal service that starts at noon.

“Everybody is able to sit down at their place and wait for the food to be plated and served,” Gancz said. “This isn’t a soup kitchen where you wait in line to get your food.” Servers are supplied by the county.

On Thursday afternoon, the room is set up again for religious services.

Koester credits Gancz with the success of the program: “He makes things happen, smoothing over the rough edges. He’s been delightful to work with.”

Participants are loving the experience. “We hear from people all the time how amazing this was for them,” Ganz said.

Moreen Fand, a regular diner, agrees. “What a great program! It’s social, it’s friendly—it’s lovely.”