HISTORY

The Caring Community is the legacy of a few resourceful members of the Greenwich Village community. In 1971, Jim Janeski, who was working at St. Vincent’s Hospital, decided to find a solution to what was becoming a serious problem: Elderly residents who had once contributed so much to the diversity and vitality of the Village now had nowhere to assemble, interact and learn.

 

Jim approached his friend Father Robert Lott at St. Joseph’s Church, who also felt the urgency of the issue. And the response was overwhelming when they contacted Lucy Cecere, who was active at Our Lady of Pompei Church, Father Laughlin and Sister Catherine at St. Luke’s in the Fields, and other community leaders. But the group was turned down when they applied to the New York City Department of Aging for funding. The city had scarce resources available for its growing number of seniors.

 

Undeterred, the group set up lunch programs on a revolving basis at St. Luke’s, St. Joseph’s and Our Lady of Pompei, and recruited volunteers from each church. The fledgling coalition continued to appeal to the Department for the Aging, however, and one day in early 1973, they got the call: “If you can get here by 3 o’clock, you can sign a contract for city funding for a luncheon program at all three sites.”

 

Now the group needed a name. Without much deliberation, it was decided that “The Caring Community” represented the heart and soul of their endeavor.