“People who have gone through the Holocaust and the rise and fall of communism deserve to live out their twilight years with dignity.”
The soup kitchen and medical clinic for the elderly Today, more than half of the elderly of the Ukraine would starve and freeze to death without community help and intervention. Ravaged by the Holocaust and the fall of communism which rendered their retirement pensions worthless, most of the elderly of the Ukraine now live without adequate means of paying for food, medicines, warm clothes and shelter. To remedy this appalling situation, the Jewish Community of Kiev has developed a social welfare network that deals with the needs of the elderly. This network is comprised of a soup kitchen, meals on wheels program and health-care program.
The soup kitchen Six days a week, over 200 seniors come to the basement of the Brodsky Synagogue in order to receive a hot kosher meal. Elderly people who are incapacitated or house-bound have their meals and food packages delivered directly to their homes. There are many more seniors on the waiting list for the soup kitchen. Your donation will make it possible for the Jewish Community of Kiev to feed and care for another needy elderly person.
The medical clinic The Jewish Community of Kiev runs an in-house clinic that gives 800 senior citizens a month free medical care and prescription drugs. When the patients are too ill to come into the clinic, the doctors and nurses go to their homes. Your donation will make it possible for seniors to been seen by the doctors and to receive the subsequent care they need and deserve.
$25 a month will feed, clothe and supply medical care to an elderly person. To adopt a grandparent:
“There are still Jewish children on the streets and in state orphanages who need rescuing”
The difficult economic period following the fall of communism left many parents in dire financial straights and many children abandoned. To cope with the growing number of orphaned and abused children, the Jewish Community of Kiev founded The Children’s House Orphanage. This is, however, no regular orphanage. Children here are placed in permanent family groups with stable caring foster parents. Children here attend Jewish schools and are fully integrated into the community at large.
Because there are still Jewish children living on the streets and languishing in state orphanages, The Jewish Community of Kiev urgently needs to build another group home Your contribution will help them save Jewish children from poverty and ignorance about their heritage.
Aid to New Mothers and Families at Risk
Families at risk and new mothers can receive financial and spiritual aid from the Jewish Community of Kiev. In the new mothers’ program, the Community ensures that pregnant women receive proper medical supervision and follow-up care after the baby is born. In the “at risk” program, family members are monitored and, if necessary, referred to the appropriate professionals.
To save a child:
“The Jewish Day Schools are the future of the Jewish Community of the Ukraine.”
The Jewish community of Kiev currently runs the Mitzva Kindergarten and Day School in Kiev and the Mitzva 613 Kindergarten and Day School in the city of Belaya Tzerkov. In these schools, hundreds of children, including those with special needs, receive a secular and Jewish education free of charge.
These schools are very costly to run and cannot continue to operate without donations from abroad. PLEASE HELP. Your donation will enable a Jewish child to grow up knowledgeable about his/her roots and spiritually connected to Israel.
To support the education of a child at a Jewish school:
“It is far better to give someone a fishing rod than a fish” The Jewish Community of Kiev operates a summer camp in Rakitnoe, a city about 100 kilometers outside of Kiev. From May- September, affiliated and non-affiliated Jews come to the camp grounds in order to participate in shabbatons, week-long programs and lectures about their Jewish heritage and tradition.
Because the camp is not winterized, it must lie dormant from October- April. This dead period places a heavy financial burden on the Jewish Community of Kiev that has to pay for the upkeep whether or not it uses the facilities. Your donation will enable the Jewish community to winterize the premises, turn the facilities into an all season retreat and make the camp financially self-sustaining.
To help winterize the Rakitnoe Camp:
Jewish cemeteries in the Ukraine have met with desecration and neglect throughout the ages and the recent past is certainly no exception. There is an urgent need to restore and rededicate these burial grounds before it too late. The Jewish Community of Kiev is currently putting together a electronic map of the cemeteries and a catalogue of the people who are buried in them. This e-map will serve as an educational and genealogical search tool as well as a blue-print for the actual cemetery restoration.
To view video of Jewish cemeteries in the Ukraine click here
To help restore a cemetery before it is too late:
