Home care workers assist homebound elderly with basic activities of daily living such as bathing, laundry, and cleaning; and help support the healthy growth and development of ill, homebound children.

Medical care includes medicines, medical tests and consultations, rehabilitation treatment and equipment, hospitalization, and surgery.

Varying from country to country, the welfare services provided by JDC in partnership with local Jewish communities in Central and Eastern Europe may include any or all of the following elements: regular cash assistance payments; SOS emergency funds; supplemental holiday aid; food packages; hot meals at kosher canteens, day care centers, and old age homes; meals-on-wheels and home care for the homebound; medicines, medical care, and medical consultations; a Bayit Cham or Warm Home initiative; day care center activities; and winter relief.

Jewish community day care centers and clubs for seniors in various locations, including outlying towns, offer physical therapy programs as well as opportunities for the elderly to overcome their loneliness and isolation.

The eight kosher kitchens operated by the Union of Jewish Religious Communities of Poland (JRCP), one of JDC’s local partners, serve free meals to needy, mostly elderly Jews, with operating costs covered locally. JDC funds the purchase of kosher meat and supplies matzah and other Passover foods. Along with other forms of assistance, food was provided to some 120 Jewish children last year through JDC’s Children in Need program.