In this year of COVID-19, with no possibility of an in-person event, Village Shalom has received a blessing and a challenge from a group of donors. Ronnie Baker, Irene Bettinger, Stanley Bushman, Charley Helzberg, and Frank Lipsman have come together with a $25,000 challenge grant in support of Village Shalom’s Ages of Excellence campaign. Ages benefits the one in four healthcare residents who are beneficiaries of this Financial Assistance Program.
Matching donor Ronnie Baker said, “Village Shalom has a commitment to help those who need us most. Over the years, Ages of Excellence has raised funds to help residents who have depleted their financial resources. Our family is proud to have joined with others in the community to offer a challenge grant to match first time gifts as well as increased gifts to the Ages campaign. Our goal is to broaden the base of supporters to Village Shalom’s Financial Assistance Program as well as increase the total funds raised.”
The challenge issued to Village Shalom is to “widen the net” and expand the donor base making participation in honoring seniors accessible to every level of donor. The funds will match all new gifts to the campaign, even as low as a $25 gift, and all increased gift amounts over a donor’s 2019 gift amount.
Ages of Excellence benefits Village Shalom residents who have exhausted their financial assets or have come to Village Shalom with no resources. Due to the vulnerability of its residents, the senior living industry has been hit particularly hard with mandated COVID-19 protocols. The unbudgeted supply and labor expenses required to keep residents safe, and to be compliant, will continue for the foreseeable future and directly impact the bottom line. Financial Assistance Program dollars raised through the Ages of Excellence campaign are critical.
The gap created between the cost of care, the reimbursement rate received by third parties, and our residents’ ability to pay is $1.6 million annually, two-thirds of which Village Shalom must attempt to absorb into the General Operating Budget. This is a challenge in any year, and with COVID-19 expenses, even more than ever. Charitable gifts encompass only one-third of the cost gap.
“Village Shalom’s annual Ages of Excellence has never been one of our community’s “sexy cool events,” said matching donor Irene Bettinger. “But its goal of financial assistance for its seniors, such that no resident has ever been asked to leave after spending down their assets, is about as cool, as meaningful for donors and recipients, and as observant of our Jewish tenets and traditions to care for our elderly as any philanthropic endeavor can be. This is why I am helping to provide matching funds for the 2020 Ages campaign, in this crazy COVID-19 time which has devastated our ability to gather together.”
There is a common thread that defines all of our lives, a thread of unpredictability. We make life plans and work to anticipate all that we can. We structure our lives so that something unexpected doesn’t cause a financial or health-related crisis. But in truth, the one in four residents who benefit from financial assistance at Village Shalom could be anyone. It is our collective conscience that stands between the ability of those people to stay and age in place, or to having to find another place to call home.
Allison Berey, Ages campaign chair said, “Many in our community are unaware of just how unique and impactful Village Shalom’s financial assistance program is in Kansas City. I have been honored to chair this critical campaign for the past four years, an opportunity to demonstrate that Village Shalom’s incredible staff culture combined with the admirable stance of providing continued care to those who exhaust their financial resources, is unparalleled in Kansas City.”
While Village Shalom would prefer to gather the community together at its annual gala with an in-person event is not possible this year, gifts and matching funds will all go to the bottom line. Gifts of every size make a difference!
Gifts may be made online at www.villageshalom.org/ages, or by check or a donor advised fund, and mailed to: Village Shalom, 5500 W. 123rd Street, Overland Park, KS 66209.