The document outlines the efforts of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) to provide humanitarian aid to vulnerable Jewish communities, particularly the elderly and at-risk families facing poverty and crises in countries like Ukraine and Moldova. JDC's initiatives include emergency food, medical care, and support for volunteers helping those in need, amidst increasing economic challenges in Europe. The organization also emphasizes the transformation of volunteer culture and ongoing support to foster self-sufficiency among affected populations.

1. Helping the World’s Neediest Jews
JDC PROGRAM DASHBOARD
JDC.org

2. Helping the World’s Neediest Jews
Tens of thousands of elderly Jews go to bed hungry every night, homebound in dilapidated
apartments. And Jewish families trapped in a cycle of poverty struggle to make ends meet and
secure a future. We bring life-saving relief to the world’s most vulnerable Jews living in places
where nearly no other social services exist.
TENSOFTHOUSANDSof children and elderly live
under the poverty line
OVER167,000vulnerable elderly receiving vital
humanitarian services
NEARLY29,000at-risk children and families
supported by JDC
NEARLY 54,000
vulnerable elderly receive free or
subsidized medication from JDC
MEDICAL CARE
When the daily shelling began to be too much to bear, Masha
packed up her belongings and left her hometown of Donetsk
in eastern Ukraine for the safety of Kharkov.
A graduate of its Jewish school and youth clubs, the 24-year-
old was a proud daughter of Donetsk—and she could scarcely
believe the streets she knew so well had become a dangerous
war zone.
Since then, she’s become one of some
2,800 internally displaced Jews helped
by JDC: receiving extra food, medicine,
and medical care; crisis-related home
repairs; emergency housing; post-
trauma care; and extra winter items
such as warm bedding, clothing, and
space heaters.
Though directly impacted by the crisis
herself, Masha—a graduate of JDC’s Metsuda young leadership
program in Ukraine—is one of dozens of young Ukrainians
volunteering to deliver needed supplies to the country’s most
vulnerable Jews.
They’re part of a new network of about 200 volunteers in
15 Ukrainian cities designing innovative programs to help
vulnerable elderly, at-risk children and families, and others
affected by their country’s violence and volatility.
“Thank God, I’m not in as bad condition as others,” she says. “I
can work and support myself. For me it’s important and is an
honor to be an ambassador for all the Jews in need in Ukraine,
to volunteer through JDC.”
Masha and her friends are part of a new generation of Jews
growing up after the fall of the Soviet
Union, a cohort with a fierce drive to
improve the communities they live in.
It’s a story that resonates with Nikolai
Railean, director of the volunteer center in
Moldova’s capital city. Nikolai coordinates
about 300 volunteers who work with
children with special needs, plan
community celebrations, visit the elderly,
and more—work that’s more important
now than ever in light of Moldova’s recent economic turmoil.
“In the Soviet Union, volunteering was treated as an obligation.
Only now is the culture starting to change,” he says. “Now,
step by step, we’re showing young people that volunteering
is about the wish of each person to be involved in improving
the world.”
PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT
As the Greek financial crisis deepened, JDC provided emergency
funding to help the Jewish community address critical needs,
including food, medicine, utility stipends, scholarships to keep
children in Jewish schools, employment and leadership training,
and network opportunities for young people.
IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION AND CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE:
“Step by step, we’re
showing young people that
volunteering is about the wish
of each person to be involved
in improving the world.”
// CHALLENGE The most vulnerable Jews are often forced to choose between putting food on their
families’ table and paying for the medical care they require. It’s an impossible choice, and healthcare needs
often suffer.
// INNOVATION JDC provides free medical consultations, subsidized medication, and loans of needed
medical equipment to the poorest children and elderly across Europe and the former Soviet Union. In
communities like Morocco and India, JDC funds old-age homes designed to provide compassionate,
dignified, high-quality care for isolated and impoverished elderly who might otherwise be completely alone.
THOUSANDS
have recieved
professional training
EMPLOYMENT
// CHALLENGE Throughout Europe, the global recession has transformed previously middle class
individuals into the “new poor.” In countries like Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and the nations of the Baltics,
thousands struggle to provide for their families.
// INNOVATION JDC’s employment programs combat economic crisis-related unemployment by offering
professional skills and training to re-establish self-sufficiency.
12,300,000+
hours of home care provided to
vulnerable elderly in the Soviet Union
HESED SOCIAL WELFARE CENTERS
// CHALLENGE Tens of thousands of vulnerable elderly languish alone throughout the former Soviet
Union. Many, often homebound, require extensive care and material assistance to purchase food, utilities,
and other necessities.
// INNOVATION JDC’s network of Hesed social welfare centers provides critical assistance to the
most vulnerable and connects seniors for important social interaction and activities.
Ukraine & Moldova
in Crisis:
Volunteers
Step Up
FRONT LINES
on the

3. JDC.org
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) is the
world’s leading Jewish humanitarian assistance organization. JDC
works in more than 70 countries and in Israel to alleviate hunger and
hardship, rescue Jews in danger, create lasting connections to Jewish
life, and provide immediate relief and long-term development support
for victims of natural and man-made disasters.
JDC is primarily funded through the Jewish Federations of North
America. Key JDC funders also include: The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg
Foundation, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany,
the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, the Maurice and
Vivienne Wohl Charitable Foundation, World Jewish Relief (UK), UIA
Federations Canada, and tens of thousands of individual donors.