Jchoice.Org

We maintain a network of local volunteers, who seek out the most needy pensioners in their community, ask them what they need, and purchase items for them.  This can include food, medicine, clothing, utility payments, bed linens, eyeglasses, hearing aids and more.  We also have a network of volunteer physicians who hold free clinics for pensioners in many, but not all, of the communities we serve.  Some individuals are helped every month – others less often.  We also encourage the formation of “Warm House” gatherings where a dozen pensioners meet at a neighbor’s apartment for a warm meal and to celebrate Jewish holidays and birthdays.  We cover the cost of food because most individuals cannot afford to feed guests.  In addition, we ship large quantities of clothing and medicine to our contacts in the Jewish communities we serve.

Our main activity in the early 1990’s began in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, a Jewish community adopted by the Greater Boston Jewish Community as part of the Kehillah project of the National Conference of Jews in the FSU.  As Dnipropetrovsk became more organized and financially more secure, we moved our program to other needier cities in eastern Ukraine, which now include Dniprodzerzhinsk, Pavlograd, Novomoskovsk, Kirovograd, Krivoy Rog, Piatikhatki, Melitopol, Mariupol, Rubezhnoe, Kharkov, Cherkassy, Lubny and Poltava.  We also serve a number of villages near Dniprodzerzhinsk and Kirovograd.

In addition to aiding pensioners, we have a Bar and Bat Mitzvah “Twinning” program, which links youngsters in the U.S. with their peers at Jewish Day Schools in the cities we serve.  Several “twins” have sent packages to the schools with school supplies, English language books, shoes (always in great demand), and winter clothing.

We ship hundreds of pounds of good used clothing, medicine and medical supplies to the communities we serve.  We provide vitamins for the Jewish Day Schools and adults in our program.  For many of our clients, the medicine we ship is their only source.  They cannot afford to purchase it on their own.

We ship medical supplies to three hospitals in Dnipropetrovsk and one in Russia, where we have close contacts with particular physicians.  We have received appreciative thank-you letters for supplies which are in short supply.

We also aid the Jewish communities of Bobruisk, Belarus, Kishinev, Moldova, and Drohobych in western Ukraine with shipments of aid.  We encourage local synagogues to link with Jewish communities and progressive congregations , and have fostered links with Bobruisk, Belarus, and Odessa, Ukraine.

 We have appealed to foundations which support us and to the many individuals who provide donations, to continue their support, and to increase it if at all possible.  We highlight the continuing problem in our newsletter, “Soviet Jewry Report,” which is published three times a year, and also in Trip Reports, which are issued after each visit to our clients in Ukraine.

We have doubled our support of the “Warm House” program, and now provide $50 for each gathering.  For several years, we provided $25 per “Warm House,” but in time, as inflation took over, that only allowed the hostess to serve tea and cookies.  We want to provide enough for a full nutritious meal. These “Warm House” gatherings are often held around the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah, Chanukah, Purim, Pesach and Shavuot.  Some communities gather every month.  In many smaller cities, they may be the only social gathering available, and they become a chavurah and support group for the people they serve.  We often visit one or more “Warm House” programs when we travel, and it is always a pleasure to experience the closeness and warmth of those who attend.  They frequently ask us not to forget their program.

Out of necessity, we provide cash gifts for our Adopt-a-Bubbe volunteers, who are themselves younger pensioners, and are also feeling the economic hardship.  We have instituted bonuses at Pesach and Rosh Hashanah, and we occasionally receive word of a particular volunteer or client who needs immediate help with funding.

Although our income has remained flat, we still send as much funding as possible to our program overseas, cutting costs at home rather than short-changing our clients. 

Dear American Friends,

I, Elena Abramovna Ruzin, want to thank you for your continued care and support that you’ve extended to me. In particular, I thank you so much for the soap you’ve sent.

Thank you so very much.