Some of our management team began the week in sunny Los Angeles, missing what we hope is the last Cincinnati snow of the season!  We had the opportunity to attend the annual conference of the Association of Jewish Aging Services (AJAS), an organization that represents the Jewish organizations that provide retirement housing, long term care and other senior services across the United States and Canada.  We're active members in this organization and a number of us had the opportunity to speak at the conference as well.  Marcia Westcott, Director of Independent and Assisted Living, and Rachel Festenstein, Director of Marketing and Community Outreach, presented on creative and non-traditional marketing approaches.  Sally Korkin and I spoke about our Interfaith Mission to Israel.  I spoke as part of a presentation of the Jewish response to elder abuse, joining colleagues from Riverdale Hebrew Home in New York  and the Fairfield, CT Jewish Home.  We represent three of the six existing elder abuse shelters in the country. Gail Davis, our Director of Admissions, served as the facilitator for that panel. 

We had some other exciting moments during the conference.  On Tuesday, we were presented with a national Excellence in Programming award for our Interfaith Mission to Israel.  And on that same day, I stepped into the role of chair of the AJAS board of directors.  I feel very strongly about AJAS and the role that this organization can play in helping to strengthen and build all of our member organizations and look forward to helping move AJAS forward over the next two years. 

We came back from California just in time to see a wonderful program on Thursday morning.  Jason Kalman, a professor at Hebrew Union College, gave a fascinating lecture on the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Professor Kalman had given lectures on this topic in the community and was kind enough to come here and give a more condensed presentation to our residents.  We had a capacity crowd in attendance and were also delighted to be joined by our friends from Otterbein who had been a part of our Interfaith Mission.  We'll be taking a couple of trips to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, one with the Interfaith Mission participants and another with just Cedar Village residents.  It is a great opportunity for us to see these remarkable scrolls and the presentation really helped us to both understand what we will be seeing and the interesting history (both ancient and more modern) that surrounds these scrolls.

Passover is coming-and soon!  We do have a limited number of apartments available at Cedar Village for Passover rental.  We've found that it is a great way for folks to come in and enjoy Passover without having to do the cleaning and cooking at home.  If that appeals to you or your loved one, please get in touch with Marcia Westcott, 754-3100, and she will fill you in on the details!  And if you'd like to join us for Seder with your family member, there are many options. We have a community Seder on March 25; traditional Seders on March 25 and 26; Health Care Seder on March 28 and Chocolate Seder on March 29!  Come be a part of the fun-

All the best,  

carol@cedarvillage.org

www.cedarvillage.org