Farewell to Donna, our Nursing Home Outreach Coordinator!

Donna Lutz, Nursing Home Outreach coordinator, retired earlier this week from her position after 18 1/2 years with JFS! We spoke to her about how much things have changed at the agency since she started in 1991. While there have obviously been many changes over the past two decades, here are the most notable according to Donna:

• When I started, only a few staff members had computers and my supervisor gave me a handwritten list of my 150 clients with arrows pointing to other pages with edits to their contact information. Now of course everyone has a computer and the agency is doing lots of social networking! And the software we use has changed a lot as technology changes, like going from using Word Perfect to Word and adding MS Health and Excel.
• Our office was on one floor in Empire Park on Colorado Blvd. until we moved to the current office in Tamarac Square in 2003 to accommodate the growth in our staff, programs, and services.
• SHALOM Denver moved from 12th and Delaware to its current facility at 2nd and Bryant and we opened a satellite office in Boulder.
• There have been three CEOs since I've worked at JFS: Art Weidman, Sue Russell, and Yana Vishnitsky (for the past 10 years).
• When I started, the seniors' department only had 3 1/2 staff members and offered limited services. That department now has about 70 employees plus an internship program and offers many more programs and services. I helped start the volunteer para-chaplain program in 1995.
• In 1991, I hosted holiday services (Passover, Hanukkah, and High Holy Days) at seven nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The program has grown so much that this year we (my team of para-chaplains and I) conducted holiday services at 29 locations! That doesn't even count the 25 Shabbat services we host each month!
• I decided that music would add meaning to the holiday services, so I taught myself to play guitar seven years ago.

I've worked since I was 13 years old and JFS has been the best place by far! The people are extraodinary! Just like the name of the agency implies, it's like working with a family. We make our clients feel so important and I am proud to see what a difference we make in people's lives. I'm going to miss the staff, the mission of JFS, and my 125 clients and the staff at all the facilities I work in!

This week, we had a party to celebrate Donna's retirement and wish her well. Cathy Grimm, Donna's supervisor, said this about her: "Donna is a legend in her own time. The Jewish community has been well served by Donna's professionalism and compassion. She embodies all that is special and unique about our department and the agency. And the woman is organized!!!!! I had no idea the attention to detail that Donna has put into this job, my admiration continues to grow. She will be missed but certainly not forgotten."

We will miss you, Donna!