Assisted Living Shalach Manot

HopeMother

Fri, Feb 12 2016, 10:42 am

Looking for ideas of what to put in shalach manot bags for an assisted living center. The place is kosher and I don't know their policy on home baked goods... Would I be able to pack hamantashen at home and give them out to the residents? I want to bring my children with me to visit their grandmother and other residents while wearing costumes. Is it strange to go the Sunday before or after Purim? I don't think I could make it on the day of...

Amarante

Fri, Feb 12 2016, 11:35 am

My grandfather is at a kosher assisted living facility in Los Angeles. I don't know if the information I give is relevant to you since facilities obviously differ in their practices.

The only restrictions observed are not bringing in non kosher food to the dining area so that the plates and silverware are not rendered not kosher.

Individuals in their rooms are free to be as kosher or non kosher as they like in terms of food. So if you bring home baked items - or other food items, an individual would be free to follow their own restrictions. Many of the residents in my grandfather's place are secular Jews so they like kosher style food but aren't kosher - and even if kosher aren't so "frum", that they would be suspicious of food from a frum woman.

It's a very nice thing. My grandfather was visited by some Chabad people with children for Succos and I have video of his doing the prayer :-)

In my experience (again dealing with a kosher facility that has secular Jews), you don't have to visit exactly on the holiday. It's always nice for the residents to be able to see the children and have a bit of a treat. I am sure your grandmother is happy to see the children even if it's not Purim and the children are happy to have a holiday for two days instead of one :-)

ETA - I wouldn't worry so much about low sugar or low salt as most of the residents I know partake of "normal" food especially for special occasions. If they are diabetic or have other real health issues, that's different, but most of those ones I interact with eat regular food at parties or other special occasions. On a day to day level, the food served to them is "healthy".