On November 29th, Chesed 24/7 and Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital formally opened the Pauline and Maurice R. Cohen Chesed 24/7 Hospitality Room, located next to the pastoral care department. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held, attended by Rabbi Shulim and Mrs. Chavy Greenberg, representing Chesed 24/7 of New Square, Cynthia McCollum, Senior Vice President of Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital Administration, Reverend Jill Bowden, Pastoral Care, Mrs. Esther Schwartz of Chai Lifeline, the Cohen Family and numerous Chesed 24/7 volunteers and recipients.
Anyone who has unfortunately been in Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center for an extended period of time is well acquainted with the Chesed 24/7 Hospitality Room located in the chaplain’s office. Almost six years ago, Chesed 24/7 approached the hospital administration requesting space for a Chesed Hospitality Room where patients and their families could get something kosher to eat while they or their loved one were undergoing treatment. Although the hospital was tight on space, the pastoral care department recognized the importance of this service and graciously gave up part of their office space to accommodate a Chesed 24/7 Hospitality Room. The space was small, allowing only two people to be in there at a time, but the impact in made on people’s lives and their recovery was enormous — with approximately 2,000 visitors using the room each month.
Six years later, unfortunately the use of the Chesed 24/7 Hospitality Room continued to grow – to the point that the occupancy of the room could not expand to fit everyone who needed it. Chesed 24/7 approached the hospital administration, with the support of pastoral care and the Cohen Family, who had used the room extensively during a family member’s illness, hoping to get a larger room dedicated in honor of Pauline and Maurice R. Cohen. And the hospital agreed.
Maurice Cohen a”h was a paragon of chesed, constantly helping others in need, constantly giving tzedakah. His children followed in his and his wife Pauline’s way, continuing their family’s legacy of chesed. Esther and Neil Saada, Sarah and Albert Maleh, Debbi Gindi – Jack M. Gindi Foundation and Rachelle and Murad J. Harari joined together to sponsor this new and enlarged Chesed Hospitality Room in honor of their special parents.
Chesed views this room as a tremendous benefit for the members of the Orthodox Jewish community. As with all of Chesed 24/7’s Hospitality Rooms, this room is fully equipped with a stocked refrigerator, microwave, kosher snacks, hot water and coffee, chalav yisrael milk, yogurts and other dairy products, prepackaged meals, Shabbos meals, electric candles, tehillim, seforim, siddurim, and other amenities a Torah observant individual would require that a hospital cannot provide.
All of the services Chesed 24/7 and the other bikur cholim organizations provide could not happen without the support of Reverend Jill Bowden. Her dedication and concern for our community is overwhelming, no detail is too small, no task too daunting, nothing is an obstacle for her if it can help patients.
Chesed 24/7 hopes that this larger room will help even more people and make what can be an otherwise unbearable situation and circumstance a little more tolerable. This room will continue the Cohen Family legacy of giving and helping others, by serving as a source of comfort, warmth and hope. May Hashem send a Refuah Shleimah to all of Klal Yisrael b’karov.
Please contact Chesed 24/7 at 845-354-3233 for any patient needs in the hospital, including meals and other services.