KCOA holds largest fundraiser in its history

The Kinneret Council on Aging held its annual "8 Over 80" #SaluteOurSeniors event online this past week and raised more money and had a larger turnout than any previous fundraiser in the organization's five-decade history.

With Alan Ginsburg as the ever-festive, always funny emcee for the evening, several hundred community members joined Zoom and/or the YouTube link for an exciting, entertaining and fun event honoring eight individuals who have made a lasting impact on our community here in Central Florida.

The eight honorees were Susan Bierman, Ruth Darvin, Louis Feinberg, Marc Katzen, Harvey Kobrin, Renée Roberts, Barry Rubenstein and Roz Weinstein.

"It has been incredibly gratifying to see the growth in community support for this event, especially given the current climate in our country with Covid, the economy and more," said Carol Feuerman, president KCOA. "These new dollars raised will have a direct impact on both the quality and frequency of programs that we can offer our over 300 resident seniors as well as continuing to provide meals to limited income Jewish seniors in our community."

In addition to professionally produced videos on each honoree, there was a car parade, a cameo from one of the stars of the hit movie, "Grease" and even a performance by Kinneret residents who sang to the tune of one of the hit songs from the movie.

"Our resident volunteers were so pleased to be able to be a part of this production," said Sharon Weil, Executive Director for Non-profit Operations at KCOA. "They work so hard each week to improve the quality of life for our residents and their joy derives from their ability to help us at KCOA improve the lives for all our seniors."

The event raised over $87,000.00 which represents an increase of 25 percent over last year's Eight over Eighty event.

"We don't know what the future holds in terms of what this program will look like next year," commented Rhonda Pearlman, President Kinneret Apartments. "However, this year's event has certainly raised the bar for all of us to reimagine, innovate and open ourselves up to new ways of serving our mission as we continue our march into the 21st century."

For those that missed the 60-minute event, it can still be viewed on the Kinneret Council YouTube channel. For more information on KCOA, please contact Sharon F. Weil at 407-425-4537 or emailing: sweil@kinneretcouncil.org.