The different floors and rooms are dedicated to different activities, including a wood-working shop, computer room, and, mainly attended by the men, pool tables. (A small library of mostly paperback novels is tucked away in a corner of the pool room) The women congregate toward the Mahjong tables, and of course everyone is together for lunch at numbered tables in a large room on the second floor which doubles as an auditorium – which recently was used for a town hall –style meeting on health reform Congressman Anthony Weiner, as well as the “Council Has Talent” contest featuring everything from an original piano composition to the winning rendition of “Hello Dolly”
“I try to come here every day,” said Sophie, 73. “I have friends here, and it keeps me active. It’s really better than sitting alone in my apartment.”
“I come about once a week,” said Rob, 82. “I usually beat everyone at pool.”
It’s not all Mahjong and pool. There’s a social worker on staff to help the seniors navigate the Medicare and Social security mazes, and assist them in getting benefits like food stamps or help in housing if they need it. Fields is currently trying to help a 62-year-old homeless man who has been sleeping in his car, usually parked near the center where he can come in for a hot lunch. He had kept five pet birds with him – to date three of them, including a large parakeet, died. The man, whom we’ll call Michael, said he has non-Hodgkin’s cancer and receives disability checks (kept for him by a neighbor in the Sheepshead Bay building where he used to live with his late mother) He said he’s hit brick walls with the city and local politicians in trying to get a housing voucher for an apartment. “I can’t get anyone to help me,” he said.
Fields also conducts regular support meetings and helps the members who have recently lost a loved one with bereavement counseling.
The Department for the Aging has not been spared the city-wide ax swung by Mayor Bloomberg, but the National Council of Jewish Women – at least so far – has been able to take up the slack.
“We’ve been fortunate,” Fields said.
