Tenants praise life-enhancing apartments at Jewish Blind & Disabled fundraising dinner
“A special place to call home”: Rob Rinder hears first-hand testimony of residents' despair before Jewish Blind & Disabled (JBD) intervention.
Jewish Blind & Disabled as raised over over £200,000 at a fundraising dinner, with guest listening to personal experiences from tenants in the charity’s specially adapted mobility apartments.
Their stories were shared with TV personality Rob Rinder, who said it was an honour to share a platform with residents who live in the same development as his father.
“It’s impossible to overstate what my dad moving into his Jewish Blind & Disabled flat has meant to us as a family. It is a special place to call home, a community, a mishpacha. JBD is a real gift to the community,” Rinder said.
Among the personal stories shared were Diana and her husband Steve Young, who moved into their Jewish Blind & Disabled flat 15 years ago after both being diagnosed with hereditary medical conditions.
Diana said: “We went from a normal working family of four to a family where three of us were too ill to work and Steve was caring for all of us, so had to stop working too. In 2000, I ended up in hospital for a month. This was my lowest point.”
“I came home and couldn’t move, I just sat there staring out of the window. That’s when I was told about Jewish Blind & Disabled. I don’t know where we would be without them. JBD has given us hope and we can live independently with support around us for when we need it,” she added.
Another couple, Gary and Yvonne Soraf, said they contacted Jewish Blind & Disabled during Covid as Gary’s mobility was declining, leading him to believe “something was wrong.”
Shortly after moving Gary into their JBD apartment, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and his condition has progressed in the last few years. Gary says he feels fortunate to live at JBD: “We have peace of mind with the support from 24/7 house managers and it really is a special place to live.”
Chief executive, Lisa Wimborne said the evening was a fantastic opportunity to shine a spotlight on Jewish Blind & Disabled.
“All too often I hear people tell me they have never heard of us before they needed our support. I was delighted that they heard first-hand from Diana and Gary, who spoke from the heart and articulated how their lives have changed since moving into their flats.”
With “ambitious plans on the horizon” requiring them to increase their annual fundraising drive from £1.2 million to £2.5 million, she called the event a “step in the right direction’.
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