By joining the Auxiliary, you will become one of more than 400 members who support Kivel Campus of Care, the Phoenix Jewish Community’s Home for the Aging. The Auxiliary has contributed over $750,000, which has enriched and enhanced the lives of our residents through a variety of worthwhile projects.

 

We invite YOU to get involved. Participation in the Auxiliary enriches your life, your family’s life, and most importantly, the lives of the Kivel Campus of Care residents.

 

For further information about membership, please contact LMychaels5454@yahoo.com.

 

Mission Statement

The Auxiliary works to raise funds for special projects that enhance the dignity and quality of life for campus residents. Kivel Campus of Care provides a loving and nurturing environment where the elderly of our community can reside.

 

Immediately before Kivel’s official opening in 1958 as a nursing home for the aged, an Auxiliary was formed. Annual dues were $2.00. Twenty women volunteer members would bring their own sewing machines to the facility and would sew draw sheets and feeding bibs. They would also handle the necessary clerical work for this growing organization. Over time, their volunteers tasks would include shopping trips with residents, assisting with feedings, calling Bingo games, teaching crafts, leading sing-alongs and delivering water.

 

However more money was needed to care for the residents. This need led to the first Auxiliary Membership Tea held about 1960 in the facility’s drive way. The Membership Tea has since evolved into the Annual Spring Luncheon and Fashion Show, our largest fundraiser.

 

In 1976, the Kivel Auxiliary’s Kloset Thrift Shop was opened at the facility. Run by volunteers, donations were happily accepted, recycled with love, and resold. Good friends were made as the volunteers took in donations of “lightly used” children’s and adult clothing and household goods, clean and in good shape. The only paid employees were the truck drivers; everything else was done out of the goodness of the volunteer’s hearts. In the early 1990s, the Kloset moved to its current location at 7th Ave. and Indian School.

 

The Auxiliary’s activities are now centered on raising funds to enhance the residents’ lives. We do not fund salaries or other operating budget items, we focus on providing projects and services that Kivel would not otherwise be able to offer its residents. Over the years these enhancements have included an ice cream parlor, a van and a bus, dental and ophthalmology clinics, cable tv, renovated dining rooms, a computer program for seniors and state of the art medical beds among other smaller projects from the Campus’ wish list.

 

It is clear that without the dedication, hard work and effort of so many volunteers the Auxiliary would not have been able to enrich the lives of Kivel Campus of Care residents. We look forward to continuing our mission.