From the Desk of Mike Silverman
In 1906, the Jewish Home was conceived when eight individuals came together to start a home for the aged that would benefit the entire Milwaukee Jewish community. The Jewish Home was created to care for those elderly Jews who did not have the family or funds to sustain themselves without public charity.
2024 marks 118 years that the Jewish Home has been in existence. In Judaism, the number 18—and intervals of it—is synonymous with the word “chai” as it consists of the eighth and tenth letters of the Hebrew alphabet Chet (ח) and Yud (’), adding up to the number 18, which is also the word “chai.” The literal translation of the word “chai” is “life.” The Jewish tradition teaches us to revere and celebrate life or “chai,” and here at Ovation Communities, we take our tradition seriously. As we celebrate 118 years in business, let us also celebrate life!
The quality of life of our residents is at the heart of what we do at Ovation Communities. To ensure that we continue to meet the highest standards for quality living, we are at the beginning of a strategic planning process. Strategic planning is the organizational process of using available knowledge to document and define an organization’s intended direction. This effort will help us to more effectively allocate resources, align stakeholders and employees with Ovation’s goals, and ensure those goals are realistically achievable, and ultimately met.
In the next few weeks, Ovation Communities will select a top consulting firm to help us begin this process which will address: strengthening the financial health of the organization, increasing our value to the Milwaukee Jewish community and beyond, defining partnerships to expand upon as well as exploring those that do not yet exist, targeting programs and activities that can be delivered upon more efficiently and economically, as well as defining programming that may be currently lacking, and identifying new grant funding opportunities.
2024 will also see renovations to the campus, the hiring of additional key staff members, and enhancements to safety measures. I look forward to sharing updates with you in upcoming publications, and wish you all a very happy, safe and healthy 2024!
With warm regards,
Mike Silverman
