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Jewish Family Service tells Arapahoe County commissioners demand is rising for Aging Care & Connections program
Summary
At a midyear briefing, Jewish Family Service described its Aging Care & Connections program — funded by a $33,000 county award — reporting 1,830 services delivered so far, a growing caseload of Holocaust survivors and budget pressure that has put services at risk.
Rachel Rotach, a presenter from Jewish Family Service, told the Arapahoe County Board of County Commissioners that the nonprofit’s Aging Care & Connections program continues to fill multiple gaps in services for older adults after receiving a $33,000 county award.
Rotach said the program provides care management, homemaker services, counseling for older adults, several food programs including a kosher congregate lunch, kosher Meals on Wheels and a pantry delivery system. “A lot of the people in our community, they wanna stay in their homes. They don't know what services are out there, and they need people to help link them to what exists,” Rotach said.
The presentation gave the board midyear performance metrics and examples of client work. Staff reported that roughly 1,830 service units had been delivered from January through midyear across the program’s components, and that the agency currently has about eight homemakers on staff who visit clients and report safety concerns to care managers. Rotach described an increase in requests from Holocaust survivors — the count rose from about 95 last year to roughly 150 this year — and said JFS has hired a full‑time bilingual Russian/English care manager to respond to the influx.
Rotach also flagged fiscal pressure: “We've run out of money. We're 50 to a 100,000 over budget at this moment halfway through the year,” she said, and noted a wait list of roughly 30 clients for services. She and commissioners discussed federal funding that flows indirectly through the area agency on aging and how reductions or timing issues in those funds can affect local service delivery.
Board members and staff asked for additional demographic and program‑use breakdowns (for example, how many Arapahoe County residents are served in each program component and how many services each client receives). Rotach said she would provide those figures by address to better isolate county‑resident use and to help commissioners track walk‑ins versus enrolled clients.
The board offered thanks to JFS and made no formal vote on new funding at the meeting; Rotach closed by providing contact information and asking commissioners to help publicize services that are still available to older adults in the county.
Ending: The presentation concluded with commissioners expressing appreciation for the program and an acknowledgement that funding pressures and rising client need will require continued monitoring by both the nonprofit and county staff.
