These women bare all for a good cause

(JNS) - Meet some of the women at the Jack Satter House in Revere, Mass. They are bold, they are real, they are honest and, as part of a campaign for their Tenants Association, they are not fully clothed.

This is why: Throughout the year, the Tenants Association provides in-house programs and outings, some of which require bus transportation to venues. For an annual fee of $15, residents have the option to be a member. But like everything these days, prices are up, and the association, as it often does, needed to hold a fundraiser.

In this case, it turned into a fun-raiser.

"We strive to do a lot of good things for the building - lectures, ice-cream socials, concerts, trips to theaters. But it costs a lot of money," says Boston-born Roxanne Aiello (month of June), the president of the Tenants Association. "I had seen the movie 'Calendar Girls,' and I thought, 'Oh, if we could only do that."

The 2003 British comedy, starring actress Helen Mirren, now 79, portrays a group of middle-aged women who decide to raise money for a memorial dedicated to a deceased spouse in the community; they do so by posing naked in an annual calendar.

The Massachusetts one is hardly the first to be printed in an American community, but the gimmick consistently seems to work. Or at least, to turn heads.

When Aiello, who turned 80 in October, first told her daughter about the project, the reply was an incredulous "Get out!" Families of the participating residents for the most part offered their support, albeit in some cases with a raised eyebrow.

"We wanted to show people that even though we live in a senior facility, we are not just old people wasting away; most of us are pretty healthy. We prefer to be recognized as mature women," explains Aiello, who is Jewish and got married right after high school. "Each day, we try and do something that makes us happy."

As for the calendar - titled "Spectacular Seniors 2025" - "it was so much fun," she says. "I look at it every day. And I think it looks beautiful. We look beautiful. We might be older, but we still have that spunk."

She also notes how tastefully it was done - with one woman covered by Bingo cards, another by playing cards, and others partially hidden by objects including a watering can, exercise machine, computer monitor, outdoor grill and hardcover book (on Vincent Van Gogh, to be exact). Others casually take to the sands of nearby Revere Beach on Boston's North Shore.

It was overseen by Rabbi Lior Nevo, a chaplain for the independent-living facility. She serves the Satter House; there are seven different Hebrew Senior Life locations in Massachusetts.

Nevo, 42, a native of Jerusalem and mother of three who has been living in the United States for eight years, liked the idea and went with it. She helped organize the calendar, including the photo shoots, and hair and make-up sessions, noting that the 15 women featured in the wall calendar (some months have multiple models) range in age from the early 70s to the mid-90s. More than half of them are Jewish. They are wives, mothers, grandmothers and great-grandmothers.

An obvious question pertains to the idea of modesty, or tzniut - not an uncommon topic for a rabbi. Observant Jewish women, for instance, cover most of their bodies with high necklines, long sleeves and skirts.

"Society is not used to seeing aging women's bodies in public," Nevo acknowledges. "I think that's sad. Think about how much our bodies carry us through the years, how they tell the stories of our lives."

She says the project empowered those involved, noting, too, that their calendar is "a little less explicit" than the one in the film. She also points out how it has energized the Satter House.

And she told the story of resident Shirley Sowsy (month of December), an active member of the Jewish community. The 95-year-old suffered a fall a month before the photo shoot. She wanted to be included so much - "she was so upbeat, so excited about it" - that she checked herself out of a rehabilitation center to do so.

She died two weeks later. The project is dedicated in her memory.

'Beautiful and sexy at any age'

The 2025 wall calendar, which includes holidays of all major faiths, is priced at $15. A total of 300 were printed, and nearly half have been sold. Nevo says they may need another run.

The women who posed all sit on the board of the Tenants Association; that was the initial criteria. Admittedly, it caused a little consternation about those not chosen, says Jean Aronson (month of March). But there's only 12 months, she points out, alluding to the idea that they may have to create another one next year ... and maybe even get some men involved.

"For me, it brought a lot of joy," says the 79-year-old, who was born and raised in South Boston, and worked as a registered nurse. She is married to 92-year-old Charles Aronson, who is Jewish, though she is not.

"I was happy to be included and very excited about it. And I loved watching some of the other girls prepare for their photos and get them taken," she says, adding that the money raised goes to a good cause - for classes, plays, dance, art, exercise.

"That keeps us alive here," she says. "We are aging, but we can still learn and share experiences."

As for the calendar's naysayers (and there are always a few), Aronson brushes that aside. "That's OK. No one has to buy one."

She recognizes that "we all have wrinkles and sags, but that doesn't take away from beauty. You can be beautiful and sexy at any age ... and in a very nice manner. Because that's what we did."

Nevo agrees, noting the "beauty of bodies, all made in the image of God."

The calendar even made it to other shores; Nevo delivered some in November to a group of Israeli rabbis and chaplains visiting the United States. They took them back, and now one hangs in a hospital in Tel Aviv and another up north.

And so, the idea from abroad has come full circle.

"The residents of Satter House have their own apartments but are part of a larger community," says the rabbi. "For many, this may be the last place they live. But they are not waiting to die. They are living the time of their lives."