Token Issued by the Jewish Home for the Aged in Portland, Maine
caption:
The obverse of this token has in its center, a right facing profile picture of the head of an elderly Jewish man, and a left facing profile picture of the head of an elderly Jewish woman facing each other. In between them, in both Hebrew and English, “DO NOT CAST US OFF AT OUR OLD AGE” Curved on the upper rim in English, “KEEP ME”, and curved on the lower rim, “GOOD LUCK”.
Identifer: CJF-RFC2015071
Medium
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Description
This token was issued by the Jewish Home for the Aged, located in Portland, Maine. This home, founded in 1929, was located on North Street in Portland, which was, at the time, the center of Portland’s Jewish immigrant community. The Home provided a place of refuge for the elderly and poor who had no family to care for them. While its North Street location was closed in 1995, and moved out of downtown Portland, the Home still exists today having been renamed as the Cedars Nursing Care Center, with a mission to provide high quality, innovative rehabilitation and long-term health care to the elderly.
One of the Home’s original founders was Joseph Brenner of Portland (1873-1943), who was known for his generosity, both to public causes and to private individuals. As the owner of the Portland-based Mountford Coal Company, he ensured that needy families did not go without heat during the Depression.
This rarely seen token was issued in bronze and is 34mm in diameter. It is not known where the token was minted.
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