Just weeks before key funding for senior services in East Windsor was to run out, the Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Mercer County has landed a $10,000 grant from the Princeton Area Community Foundation.

The funds will breathe new life into the agency’s many services to the region’s NORCs — naturally occurring retirement communities.

JFCS officials anticipated that its federal grant for NORC services would be renewed for one year, but thanks to belt-tightening by the new Congress, the agency faced losing its funding by the end of February.

“We needed to get other sources of funding to keep our program going,” said Julie Feibush, JFCS coordinator of senior services.

One avenue JFCS took in that quest was to enter the competition for the Greater Mercer Grants administered by the Princeton Area Community Foundation. The Lawrenceville-based nonprofit funnels its endowment funds into “causes that matter.”

“The $10,000 they gave us is to support program development costs,” Feibush said. “it allows the NORC program to continue uninterrupted. It will allow us to expand our program into Hightstown, and it will also allow us to launch our home-safety assessment program.

“It gives our program some financial security, and it allows us time to continue to find other ways to keep the program sustainable,” she added. “I’m thrilled our hard work has paid off and our program will continue to grow and reach more seniors in East Windsor and Hightstown.”

Designed to provide the support services that can enable seniors to live independently as they age in place, the agency’s NORC program currently reaches about 110 seniors, Jewish and non-Jewish, mainly in the Twin Rivers section of East Windsor, according to Feibush.

The agency estimates that 11 percent of the 7,500 residents there are over the age of 65 — many with incomes of about $20,000 per year. The NORC program provides such services as health and wellness programs, case management, counseling, information and referrals, integrative therapy workshops, and kosher meals-on-wheels.

The agency also supports a program of “assistive technology devices,” including shake-awake alarm clocks for the hearing impaired, clap-on light systems, reaching devices, and adaptive can openers.

“We were very interested in incorporating assistive technology devices into the homes of individuals in our program,” Feibush said. “In many cases, making a minor retrofit can really make the difference between living at home or not.”

In celebration of the foundation grant, Feibush recently welcomed Joan Hollendonner, vice president of programs for the foundation, to the JFCS offices in Princeton, where she also met with Linda Meisel, executive director of the agency, and Elaine Moorin of Princeton, of JFCS board president.

Hollendonner called the agency’s Greater Mercer Grants application for its NORC program “a first-rate proposal.”

“They simply did a wonderful job of explaining the need for allowing people to age in place,” Hollendonner said. “And with 77 million baby-boomers reaching the age of 60 in 2006, the need becomes ever more acute.

“They also have a reputation for excellent work,” she added. “Linda has the reputation of being a tremendously effective leader. Put all those things together — first-rate leadership, the program, and really meeting needs square on — and they got the grant.”

Meisel said she was “deeply grateful” for the grant. “We’re so glad they acknowledged that seniors need services,” she said.

In addition to the foundation grant, JFCS recently received a second $5,000 grant from the Titusville-based Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc. to fund caregiver support and educational groups across Mercer County, according to Feibush.

“These two grants, along with some other grants that are pending, will carry us probably for the next year,” she said. “So that means we can really grow the program.”