Something to Bark About

When Betsey Roberts gets involved in something, she jumps in with both feet. In the case of Los Angeles Jewish Health, she brings eight additional feet to the cause.

Betsey learned about LAJH five years ago, getting involved in The Executives and quickly becoming vice chair of the group's networking lunches. She then joined The Executives' board, eventually serving as membership vice president. Today, she is preparing to become active as a member of both The Benefactors and the board of the Associates-IMC. Betsey's interest in The Benefactors is deeply personal: The daughter of a Holocaust survivor, she is eager to help keep the history of the Shoah alive, even as fewer survivors are here to tell their stories. For her, The Benefactors' support for LAJH is just icing on the cake.

"Jacques Soriano brought me in and introduced me to The Executives when he was president," Betsey explains. "I am forever grateful to him because finding out about the Home totally changed my life."

Betsey has been bringing Minnie and Mocha, certified pet therapy dogs-and two of her four dachshunds-to LAJH every week, offering residents critical love and support (she and her husband Neil are also working on having a third dachshund, Dexter, get certified). Since starting as Home volunteers, Betsey and her four-legged friends have visited three different Skirball Hospice patients in the Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer Medical Center; all three were ultimately discharged. Betsey believes their improvement was due in no small part to the pet therapy they received.

Residents of the Home's Eisenberg Village eagerly anticipate the arrival of Betsey, Minnie and Mocha each week. The crew has developed quite a following-Betsey and the dogs even make a point of coming early to spend a few minutes with the Home's employees! Recently, Betsey has been traveling with Minnie and Mocha to Sunrise Senior Living in Sherman Oaks so that the residents there can benefit as well.

"I love how much joy people get from our visits," Betsey says. "We sit near the entrance to the Home's dining room in order to see people going to lunch, but we also have special friends who stop by to visit. Since the residents can't have dogs of their own, they love spending time with mine."

For his part, Betsey's husband Neil says he is "extremely proud of my wife and my two doggies and the work they do. It is wonderful that so many people get such enrichment from their visits."

Dedicated philanthropists, Betsey and Neil are generous supporters of their three favorite organizations: LAJH, the Los Angeles Philharmonic (they are avid concert-goers, especially at the Hollywood Bowl) and the Bill Foundation, which finds permanent homes for dogs in L.A. County shelters.

The Roberts' personal and professional passions overlap with their love of the Home. A counselor at Los Angeles Valley College, Neil also plays bass guitar and hopes to perform with other members of The Executives at an event. Betsey spent nearly 30 years at the Writer's Guild, and in recent years has been working part-time as a travel consultant, donating a large portion of her commissions to the Home.

The organization is such an important part of their lives that Betsey and Neil decided to join the Legacy Circle, naming LAJH in their estate plans with a bequest. "I was looking for an organization to be a part of and found LAJH to be a very special place," Betsey says. "At least 70% of the residents can't afford the care, and so Neil and I decided we wanted to help them even after our lifetimes."