Jewish Family Service (JFS) is on a roll. After recently becoming the only program in Ohio to win a grant from the national Alzheimer’s Foundation for its new Adult Day Services, JFS just won another honor. On March 20, its K’vod Connect program won the Tristate Association for Professionals in Aging’s Outstanding Project in the Field of Aging Award.

Started in 2022, K’vod Connect addresses the increasing isolation of older adults. It offers thoughtful, regular visits for companionship, conversation, emotional support, and spiritual presence. “These visits are often the highlight of our participants’ week,” says its lead rabbi, Rabbi Yair Walton.

It was Rabbi Walton who accepted the award on behalf of the team in a ceremony at The Seasons in Cincinnati. He said: “K’vod Connect was created with a simple but essential goal: to build meaningful connections for older adults and ensure that no one feels isolated or alone. Aging should be a time of continued engagement, purpose, and belonging. This award recognizes the work we do every day to bring people together, and we are deeply honored.”

JFS’s CEO Liz Vogel, who also attended the ceremony along with most of the K’vod Connect team, said, “JFS has expertise in supporting older adults in our community in whatever ways they need. I am thrilled that the ongoing important work of Rabbi Walton and his team has been recognized in this way. Their passion, creativity, and unwavering dedication make everything they do possible.”

The significant expansion of the program since 2022 underscores the depth of the need it tries to meet. It has now served or serves over 850 participants, and has developed a volunteer group, the Shalom Corps Volunteer Program, to meet the need and expand its outreach. It also does group programming out in the community, from movie nights to field trips to Shabbat services at local older adult facilities.

Given the evidence nationally of increased social isolation, and the dramatic increase in participants in this program, one of the most surprising statistics is that K’vod Connect is, according to Rabbi Walton, the only Jewish program like this in the country. Jewish Family Service has stepped up with continued successful innovation that meets our community’s changing needs.

Rabbi Walton concluded, “We know that social isolation is one of the greatest challenges of aging, and we also know that the solution is not just services—it’s relationships. K’vod Connect exists to create those relationships, to foster belonging, purpose, and shared experiences, and to ensure that older adults remain active participants in their communities. I want to acknowledge the older adults we serve. They are the heart of everything we do.”