Dear Friends, Partners, and Supporters,
This summer, we are incredibly proud to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Circle of Care. This special occasion has led us to reflect on our journey and the remarkable milestones we have achieved together.
In 1974, the United Jewish Welfare Fund of Metro Toronto recognized the need to support older adults, and initiated a project that brought together various services, including the existing Meals on Wheels program. This led to the establishment of a permanent agency, Coordinated Services for the Jewish Elderly – our first name. With a team of 21 staff and 400 volunteers, we began delivering meals, visiting those in need, and assisting with essential tasks, serving 363 clients and delivering 34,000 meals in our very first year.
Our growth was remarkable, and by 1978, we were providing support to 1,200 clients, demonstrating the value and need of these services in the community. Over the next two and a half decades, we changed our name twice, first to Senior Care and then to Circle of Care, reflecting our broadening mandate to support clients from all backgrounds and across more communities in the Greater Toronto Area. We introduced important services to support caregivers; intergenerational programming to foster vibrant connections between young people and older adults; and socializing programs to combat isolation. We also developed one of Ontario’s first Palliative Care Training Programs and launched the Jewish Hospice program.
With the dawn of a new millennium, our focus was on expansion and growth as Circle of Care won competitive contracts to formally provide home care services on behalf of five Toronto Community Care Access centers in 2000, and was accredited for the first time by the Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation.
In 2009, in partnership with the Baycrest Day Centre for Seniors, we opened an Adult Day Program that provided an inviting, safe place for people with dementia and age-related cognitive impairment to socialize and participate in recreational, social and therapeutic programs.
We are very proud of the fact that the last decade has especially shown how passionate, innovative, and resilient we are as an organization. We received Exemplary scores from Accreditation Canada several times, which demonstrated our commitment to quality care, and added over 130 free exercise and falls prevention classes across the GTA.
We always liked to be visionary and create system impact which led us to think about how we can work collaboratively with partners and with the larger community to create programs and services that would have even greater benefits in our communities. This ultimately led to a partnership with Sinai Health System in 2015, helping to create a first-of-its-kind leading system of integrated care. As part of this partnership, Circle of Care launched a number of initiatives, including: transportation services between Mount Sinai and Hennick Bridgepoint hospital for care and diagnostic services; integration of social workers into hospital settings to help facilitates people’s departures from hospitals and return to their homes; and training volunteers for the palliative care unit at Hennick Bridgepoint Hospital.
At this time, we also became the co-leads with Community and Home Assistance to Seniors (CHATs) of the iRide Plus transportation program for seniors across the GTA, and became one of the 10 largest recipients in the world of specialized funding for Holocaust Survivors allocated by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. Recognizing the increasing need to provide supports to people living with dementia and their caregivers, we launched a larger, state of the art Adult Day Program in Vaughan in 2022, continuing our tradition of innovation and excellence.
Today, our nearly 1000 employees and nearly 500 volunteers deliver supports to over 11,000 clients, including nearly 1,500 Holocaust survivors.
As we celebrate our 50th anniversary, we look back with pride at our achievements and look forward to continuing our mission of enhancing the quality of life for those we serve. Thank you for being a part of our journey. Your support has been instrumental in our success, and we are excited to see what the future holds.
With heartfelt gratitude,
Carey Lucki
Chief Executive Officer
Circle of Care
Timeline: Circle of Care Over 50 Years
Circle of Care’s Old Logos
