by Elaine Durbach
NJJN Bureau Chief/Central

August 13, 2009

If the United States Senate gives its approval, a grant of $300,000 will be made available to sustain a program that helps frail elderly people in Union County “age in place” and to expand the program to new areas.

At a press conference in Scotch Plains this past Tuesday, Aug. 11, where he also described his recent trip to Israel, Rep. Leonard Lance (R -Dist. 7) announced that the House of Representatives recently approved his request for funding to expand the Natural Occurring Retirement Communities (NORC) program in Union County. The program is operated by the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey and the Jewish Family Service of Central New Jersey.

He made the appeal for the funds in conjunction with U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-Dist. 13).

They also got approval for $225,000 for the NORC program run by Jewish Family Service of Somerset, Hunterdon, and Warren Counties.

NORC programs run by Jewish family service agencies of the MetroWest and Northern NJ Jewish federations also won approval, as did one in Atlanta.

The programs are among a handful in the country to win NORC funding in this cycle.

The funding bill now moves to the Senate for consideration and must then be signed into law by the president. Lance told the audience he is hopeful on both those counts.

“There are ‘sending’ states, and ‘taking’ states, and we are a sending state,” he told the gathering of around 30 members of the Jewish community, including heads of a number of agencies, both in the Central area and from MetroWest. “It’s only appropriate that we should fight vigorously for a program that has been thoroughly vetted and that is 100 percent transparent.”

The Union County program currently assists groups of seniors in the Elmora section of Elizabeth, and in Vauxhall. With the new funding, the program will be extended to help seniors in Westfield.

Funding the NORC program has always been a struggle. Lance’s predecessor, Rep. Mike Ferguson, first acquired a NORC grant in 2005. The following year, his request was rejected, but later restored. Last year, with the clampdown on all earmark spending, it was cut again.

Tom Beck, JFS of Central NJ executive director, said the existing programs were kept afloat, “operating on a shoestring,” with money from the regular JFS budget. He said too that the federation had been very helpful in keeping the programs funded.

Beck said the news of the funding approval was very welcome. “This will really pump life into the program, keep these very valuable services going in the current areas, and make possible the expansion into Westfield,” he said.

He said JFS will work with community organizations in Westfield and with local and state representatives to assess the needs there and determine which services would be most helpful. As in the other areas, they will involve volunteers from the community, with “neighbors helping neighbors,” Beck said.

Jewish organizations around the United States have promoted NORCs as a way to provide Jewish and non-Jewish seniors living within close proximity with the assistance needed to continue to live independently. The services include home-delivered meals, health-care visits, housekeeping help and home repairs, recreational and social programs, and transportation to doctors’ appointments. The cost per person is a fraction of what it would cost to provide equivalent care in an institution.

Central federation executive vice president Stanley Stone praised Lance for his commitment and leadership. “It’s pretty unusual for a freshman congressman to be able to secure funding like this — about half the total approved for New Jersey,” he said.

---

‘A very sobering moment’

For Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ Dist. 7), what struck him most forcefully on his recent trip to Israel was a comment from a distinguished professor — whose name he didn’t reveal — who said that if the United Nations were to vote today on the establishment of the State of Israel, members would vote against it.

“It was a very sobering moment,” he told his audience at the Wilf Jewish Community Campus in Scotch Plains on Aug. 11. “I hope he’s wrong, but I suspect he’s right. Of all the things we were told, that one statement stood out as the most significant.”

Lance, who won his seat last November, was in Israel last week with 24 other Republican freshman colleagues on a one-week trip led by House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia, who is Jewish, and sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation, a nonprofit affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

This week, 30 freshman Democratic congressmen are on a similar trip, led by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

Introducing Lance, Nora Berger, AIPAC area director for the Central NJ and MetroWest communities, said, “It’s August; the members can go anywhere they choose, and they chose to go to Israel.” She thanked Lance for his steadfast support for every piece of legislation relating to Israel or Iran that has crossed his desk.

Lance said he had wanted to visit Israel for some time. He listed as highlights seeing the vibrancy of Tel Aviv, the historical remains at Masada, the challenges of the West Bank, the Sea of Galilee, and the Jordan River — “which is no wider than Spruce Run Creek” in his district. He said also that he found the people warm, generous, and outgoing. What he said struck him with unexpected force was the sense of the proximity to danger that those people live with.

Asked what he thought could be done to promote peace in the Middle East, he said that Congress should take the lead in pointing out what needs to be done to support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and in peace.

“It’s time to move beyond 1948, to a two-state solution — but not until the Palestinian Authority accepts that,” he said.

Speaking to Israelis, he said he encountered intense concern about Iran’s possibly concealing the state of its nuclear weapons program.

He said he stood by his description of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as “a thug” and said a nuclear-armed Iran was a threat to the whole world. In dealing with that threat, “no option should be taken off the table.” — Elaine Durbach

Comment: comments@njjewishnews.com

--TOP--