The Jarvie Commonweal Service, a ministry to older adult Protestants in the New York City area, has undergone changes in leadership and structure, according to leaders of the Presbyterian Foundation.
Staffing and administrative services for the program are now being provided by Jarvie Program LLC, an affiliate of VIP Health Care Services. Jarvie services and administration had previously been provided by staff of the Presbyterian Mission Agency. The changes will allow the Mission Agency to focus resources on ministries which better fit its Mission Work Plan.
In 1925, James N. Jarvie formed the Jarvie Commonweal Fund, a not-for-profit corporation in New York. The Jarvie Commonweal Fund’s purpose was “to offer relief to the aged (beyond sixty-five) within the Protestant faith, and residing within fifty miles of New York City—persons of culture and education whose comfortable circumstances have been reversed and who in their declining years find themselves without sufficient means of support.”
In 1934, the Jarvie Commonweal Fund entered into an agreement with the Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian Church, donating the program’s assets and transferring the responsibility for the service. The Presbyterian Foundation, as agent for the Board of National Missions, continues to steward the Jarvie endowment and trust funds.
“Our primary concern is that the Jarvie program’s beneficiaries continue to receive the best possible care,” said Greg Rousos, chief operating officer of the Presbyterian Foundation. “In our search for a new provider, we considered only those organizations with practices that are considered to be the best and most exemplary among their peers. VIP Health Care, through its Jarvie Program LLC affiliate, has the experience and expertise to provide the same high quality of care that the program demands and that our beneficiaries have come to expect.”
“We’re pleased that these changes will provide for the continued care of Jarvie beneficiaries, and may even allow us to expand the number of beneficiaries being served in the future,” said Tom Taylor, President and CEO of the Presbyterian Foundation.