Update: ‘Summer’ in Ukraine – 7 ways in which we help Jews in a war-thorn country
In this update I will share the 7 ways in which we currently help the Jewish communities in Ukraine.
- ‘Meals on Wheels’ – Meals in Ukraine
After the breach of the Kochavka Dam, we appealed for support for thousands of additional meals. The 16 soup kitchens continue to operate during the summer, and many new refugees received help in the last weeks. Thanks to your support! We regularly hear that aid centers are bombed or heavily damaged by missiles or drones, but until now all 16 soup kitchens we support have been spared from such attacks.
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- Help to Holocaust Survivors
There are many Holocaust survivors and Jewish elderly persons who receive ongoing support from Christians for Israel. Thanks to your contribution, we can help these elderly people with medicine and food. We also visit them regularly. This continues in full swing even now. Recently, dozens of Jewish elderly were visited in Odessa, Poltava, Dnepr and numerous other small towns and villages.
Soon we hope to visit Jewish elderly in the city of Zaporozhe. Since the start of the war, dozens of Holocaust survivors and Jewish elderly, especially from eastern and southern Ukraine made aliyah (emigrated to Israel) and then continue to be visited and helped in Israel.
- Summer Camps for Jewish children and youth
What is encouraging is that many Jewish schools organize one-day summer camps for Jewish children and youth, to which numerous children of refugees are also invited. For a moment they can forget about the air raid, forget about the war and just be able to play with others.
It also makes parents happy, who are also trying to survive in a new environment after fleeing from their homes. Some are waiting for the documents to be able to make Aliyah, or they simply can’t leave because of the mobilization law.
- Food parcels
Basically, these are emergency food parcels. Never before have we received so many requests as in recent months. Big truckloads with food parcels are distributed where it is needed most. For example, in Odessa, Zaporozhe, Kiev and Kherson.
Odessa is shelled almost daily with rockets and drones, with numerous casualties and heavy damage – including in the center of this large city. Nevertheless, we were able to safely deliver and distribute 1,300 food packages. However, we received a new request to bring another 1,300 food parcels to Odessa.
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- Na’aleh and Sela
We were able to help Jewish teenagers between 14 and 16 years old from all over Ukraine with transportation, including with our evacuation bus (see photo), to Western Ukraine. They spent several days there taking all kinds of tests and exams, organized by the Jewish Agency. In early August it will become clear who passed and then those teenagers will be allowed to study in Israel for four years. These programs are called Na’aleh and Sela, which means as much as ‘return befor the parents’. After their studies, the young people stay in Israel, hoping that their families will also come and live in Israel. In September, one of these groups of young people will leave Ukraine for Israel.
- Evacuations from Zaporozhe and Nikopol
There are continuing concerns about an attack on the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, in the town of Energodar (occupied by the Russians) near the Dnepr River. On the other side of the river sits the town of Nikopol, and just 40 kilometers from Energodar you’ll find the large industrial city of Zaporozhe. In early July we evacuated numerous Jews from those towns, using large and small vans.
- Aliyah (return to Israel)
This remains difficult and the procedure takes much longer because of the war. Nonetheless, this remains our main task and with an average of three trips per week we bring the repatriants (this is how we call Jewish refugees in Ukrainian), and the families to Kishenov, the capital of Moldova. On average, each trip by bus takes three days! This includes lodging in our shelter, border crossings with strict checks, and meeting with the Israeli consul for a visa.
A Jewish woman from Mariupol now living in Israel wrote us the following after we recently helped her elderly parents from Ukraine to Moldova:
“Thank you so much for helping my parents with their repatriation! I had so much stress and worried that everything would go wrong, but everything went so smoothly with so much care. All the best to you and may the Almighty surround you with His peace.”
The nations have a task to assist with the return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel. The prophets of Israel had predicted and recorded this thousands of years ago. Like in Isaiah 49:22.
In the coming time, we hope to help hundreds of Jews to go to Israel from Ukraine via Moldova! It is still possible now! Will you help?
It costs €135 to help a Jewish refugee from Ukraine make aliyah. Will you help? Any amount is welcome. Thank you in advance for your support!
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