Hundreds of Thousands of Ukrainian Jews Need Help

The Fellowship  |  February 29, 2024

Writing at the Jerusalem Post, Michael Starr reports that even after more than two years of war, The Fellowship is on the ground in Ukraine and committed to helping Ukrainian Jews who need support:

Kind people visited Valentina yet again last Tuesday, when representatives from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) came to see her. They brought boxes of food and wood for her furnace. Valentina was excited to see a can of tuna.

The aid workers placed the food in her home, among the old dolls, stuffed animals, and tea sets that she has collected over the years.

On the table next to boxes of medicine is a hanukkiah that still has the melted candles on it, and Chabad pamphlets. These are not her only connections to Jewish life in Ukraine, as the JDC gave her a phone with a specialized application to attend events remotely, as well as call for help, should she fall again.

Without aid packages like these, Valentina said that she “wouldn’t be alive,” and extended her thanks to Israelis, Americans, and Jews around the world. “I wish everybody to live better than I do, and with your help, I can at least live the way I do.”