That’s your bubbe:
Adopt-A-Safta, a nonprofit aimed to strengthen ties between the seniors and the young generation, calls for more volunteers to join, especially in these days of isolation, which are hard for the seniors. Volunteers can take on one, or multiple seniors to their weekly call routine, and be responsible for taking notes on each call, letting the organizers know if any serious social services are required immediately (food, medicine, etc.)Volunteers will be required to follow up – for example, if a senior needs food, the volunteer has to connect with one of the social services on the Adopt-A-Safta list provided that can professionally assist the senior in need.The public is invited to donate or join the volunteers. More at https://AdoptASaftaPhoneCall.eventbrite.com
Adopt your neighbor:
City council member Ofer Berkovitch (Hitorerut) has launched a program aimed to take care, in these difficult days of the virus, of neighbors who live alone. One of the most vulnerable parts of the population is seniors who live alone. In normal times, these persons have a routine enabling them to go out, look after themselves, take care of their own needs and attend cultural and social events. Now that they are requested to remain at home, they are encountering a high degree of solitude – and welfare and social services professionals are concerned. Berkovitch, who already tried two weeks ago to resolve the bad blood between him and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, offered the services of his party, which holds a long list of volunteers ready to take missions. Lion didn’t show particular interest in the offer, but Berkovitch nevertheless decided to go forward and earlier this week launched the project. Residents are invited to look after their old of elderly neighbors, see if they are included in the welfare services of the municipality in terms of immediate needs, and most important, to maintain ongoing contact with them to lessen the pain of the imposed solitude they are experiencing. By the beginning of this week, Hitorerut had already garnered more than 700 volunteers and they expect even more to join in the coming days.
Mobileye is growing:
Amidst all the urgent issues that have come to the fore at the municipality due to coronavirus, the local planning and construction committee is a sort of island of normality, as it goes on organizing and approving construction plans, with one emphasis being hi-tech projects aimed to benefit the city. Earlier this week the committee approved a large new project for Mobileye. The hi-tech firm, a global leader in its field and located in Jerusalem since its opening, will now have a whole campus of its own in the Har Hotzvim area. The campus will consist of four towers, each nine stories high, and will include conference rooms, offices, computer rooms, the offices of the company. spacious room to enable female employees to feed their babies and more.
Corona hotels:
As of this past Tuesday, there were 118 Jerusalemites who moved to "Corona hotels," according to the policy of quarantine or hospitalization of ill persons with minor symptoms of the virus. About 100 patients are in the Prima Palace Hotel, which has been set aside for haredi citizens and is now kosher l’mehadrin, having undergone the highest level of Kosher supervision –including preparation for Passover. The Dan Jerusalem Hotel on French Hill is currently housing about 20 ill people. At the Prima Park, at the entry of the city, there is only one ill resident as of now, plus some 90 people who are required to remain in quarantine, but cannot observe it at home because there are other family members involved. They have been transferred to this hotel for the mandated two-week period to check if they develop the symptoms or not.
Swan song?:
Last Sunday, the District Court of Jerusalem rejected the appeal of the owners of the Barbur Gallery against the decision of the municipality to evacuate them. The municipality ordered them to leave, in order to use the building for additional kindergartens for the local community. The Court rejected the appeal, and apparently the next step of the owners and operators of the gallery will be an appeal to the High Court of Justice.