Ken LaZaken
Yes! to Seniors (in Hebrew, Ken LaZaken), an organization that works to promote and improve the rights of senior citizens in Israel. By promoting national legislation, running community workshops, and operating a 24-hour hotline for individual seniors.
Yes! to Seniors: How We Help Senior Citizens
Since its founding in 2004 with the help from the Jerusalem Foundation, Yes! to Seniors has helped well over 70,000 seniors understand their rights and access government benefits. Our work can be divided into three levels: legislative, community, and individual. On the legislative level, we work with the Israeli government to create policy and pass legislation that is beneficial to seniors. On the community level, we educate community organizations hold events for individuals about seniors’ rights and how to access those rights. And on the individual level, we help guide seniors through the complicated bureaucratic process. One service we offer that is central to helping individuals is our Center for Achieving Seniors’ Rights.
The Center for Achieving Seniors’ Rights 24-Hour Hotline
The Center for Achieving Seniors’ Rights is a 24-hour hotline staffed by volunteer professionals who are there to answer questions, guide individuals through the bureaucracy, and advocate for seniors’ rights in the face of individual challenges and roadblocks that arise. These volunteers include lawyers, accountants, top professionals from the national insurance institute, social workers, doctors, and more. The hotline exists in 3 different languages: Hebrew, Russian, and Arabic. That way, seniors are able to communicate about complex issues in their native language. To date, over 70,000 seniors have received help from the hotline on issues across the spectrum, including health, social services, living assistance, insurance, pensions, and much more. As a direct result of the help these seniors received, millions of shekels have been returned to or granted to seniors in Israel.