Project Spotlight: Helping Those in Poverty in the FSU

The Fellowship  |  July 10, 2025

elderly woman in brown coat sitting at a table, white plate with blue rim, glass of tea, apples and honey - looking up, smiling
(Photo: JDC)

The Fellowship provides home visits and food deliveries to thousands of Jewish elderly and Holocaust survivors living in poverty across the former Soviet Union. Many also suffer from deep loneliness.

We help people like Shafag, 71, who lives with multiple sclerosis and other physical challenges. Though she’s surrounded by compassionate neighbors, she still needs vital material and medical support. That’s where The Fellowship—and our partner Hesed—step in. Thanks to our supporters, Shafag receives food, medicine, homecare visits, therapy, and help with heating bills during the harsh winter months.

But beyond physical needs, many of these precious elderly long for something deeper: a connection to Jewish traditions and community that bring comfort and faith. Thanks to you, Shafag and thousands like her aren’t not alone or forgotten.