While carrying out its work in the former Soviet Union (FSU), the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews made a disturbing discovery. Hundreds of thousands of elderly Soviet Jews live in shocking poverty. Many are seriously ill, but cannot afford medicine.

The problem of orphaned and abandoned children in the former Soviet Union is also critical. Thousands of children throughout the region live on the streets, while others live in appalling and dangerous conditions in state-run orphanages.

The Fellowship’s Isaiah 58 program provides food, medical care, housing and other basic assistance to poor Jews in the former Soviet Union, and finances a network of safe children's homes throughout the area. Through this lifesaving work, our Isaiah 58 partners are truly fulfilling the biblical mandate "to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter when you see the naked, to clothe him …" (Isaiah 58:7).

Isaiah 58 Success Stories

Syla: A true heroine receives life-giving support

Syla is a poor Jewish widow living by herself in a dilapidated, two-room shack in Ukraine. Her house has no electricity or running water and she suffers from numerous medical problems. You would not guess it from looking at her, but Syla is a true heroine whose inspirational story of bravery deserves to be told to the world… Read More

Nadezhda: A lonely person finds hope

Nadezhda, an elderly Soviet Jew, lives in a small, decrepit one-room house in Siberia. The nearest well is three houses away, and since Nadezhda is homebound due to poor health, she must ask someone to fetch water any time she needs to cook or bathe. She washes her clothes outside, and her only bathroom is a small wooden outhouse… Read More

Maryia and Abraham: Food for the body
- and the spirit

Maryia and her two-year-old son, Abraham, live in Russia. Abraham suffers from severe nerve damage that requires expensive medication. While Maryia does all she can for him, with no family to assist her and a paltry monthly child care allowance of only $18, every day is a struggle to survive. Maryia can barely afford to buy food, let alone the medicine her son needs. Maryia felt she had nowhere to turn for help. But thanks to… Read More