More than two and a half years into the Ukraine crisis, JDC’s essential humanitarian response to the ongoing conflict continues — sustaining the country’s most vulnerable Jews, strengthening its Jewish communities, and spearheading innovative initiatives to address emerging challenges.

Providing Aid to the Most Vulnerable Jews

A retired music teacher, Victoria Paper remembers when she could easily “walk a kilometer just to buy a pastry.” Now 73, she lives in Odesa on a meager pension, contending with limited mobility and struggling to make ends meet when most of her fixed income goes toward medicines and skyrocketing utility bills. “I used to run, I could swim 500 meters — and now I’m afraid,” she said ruefully. “If there were no JDC, I probably wouldn’t be alive right now. Somehow, despite centuries of destruction, despite the Holocaust, despite everything, the miracle is that the Jewish people arose like a phoenix from the ashes to lend a helping hand to each other. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img class="wp-image-37490" src="https://jdcorg-media.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20241031-S2-UK-Header-02.jpg" alt=" Victoria Paper (right) sits with her JDC homecare worker in Odesa." /></figure> Across Ukraine, more than 53,500 vulnerable Jews have received JDC assistance since the start of the crisis, with more than 35,000 receiving ongoing emergency aid, like food, medicine, homecare, and evacuation services. Additionally, more than 5,900 internally displaced persons (IDPs) have received critical support from JDC and local Jewish communities across the country — like Alona Tokareva, who fled hard-hit Kharkiv for the relative safety of Poltava and relies on the organization for rent assistance, trauma support, and more. “We got so much help from the Jewish community that just saying ‘thank you’ is not enough,” said Tokareva, who now volunteers at Poltava’s JDC-supported Hesed Nefesh social welfare center, teaching English to teens. “Without JDC these two years, I can’t imagine. You know that anytime you need help, they will help in every way possible.” For the thousands of individuals — JDC workers, Hesed partners, and volunteers — who do this sacred work, it feels like a privilege to be able to make an impact during such difficult days. <figure class="ar-q wp-block-pullquote"> <blockquote class="has-text-color css-qmq6vp"> We don’t think that one day we’ll become a part of history. We think about what we are doing here and now.” </blockquote> Elizaveta Sherstuk Hesed Haim Director </figure> “We know our clients are living in the same houses and receiving the same vital help from homecare workers just as before,” said Elizaveta Sherstuk, director of the JDC-supported Hesed Haim social welfare center in Sumy. “We understand that despite air alarms and blackouts, we must keep living.”

red

Education

The crisis in Ukraine, coming right on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, has meant that many of the country’s Jewish children have been denied in-person schooling for several years. JDC’s JewSchool program bridges that potential developmental gap: By gathering students together to take their online classes in community institutions like Heseds and Jewish Community Centers (JCCs) — places that families already know and trust and which have been outfitted with generators and reliable WiFi — the initiative preserves the traditional educational experience as much as possible. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img class="wp-image-37490" src="https://jdcorg-media.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20241031-S2-UK-EDU-Mid.jpg" alt="Photos: Kids Hub, housed in Kharkiv's Beit Dan JCC, offers support for Ukrainian Jewish children." /></figure> On-site tutors add to the academic support students receive, and the JCC setting means they can end their school day with enriching after-school electives, strengthening their Jewish identities and learning specialized subjects like English and art. <figure class="ar-q wp-block-pullquote"> <blockquote class="has-text-color css-qmq6vp"> This is a safe place for Jewish children to learn, develop, and engage in community life. We help the kids grow and face their fears.” </blockquote> Olga Drobotova Kids Hub Coordinator </figure> “They get to socialize, which is so important for kids,” he said of Kids Hub, which meets at Kharkiv’s JDC-supported Beit Dan JCC. “I find the program to be a salvation for children. It’s so vital, since none of the schools here, because of its proximity to the front lines, are open at all.” <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img class="wp-image-37490" src="https://jdcorg-media.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20241031-S2-UK-EDU-Mid-2.jpg" alt="" /></figure> Across Ukraine, JDC also offers an online educational platform that reaches hundreds more children — often those who live in remote towns and villages with little access to in-person Jewish community gatherings. “We believe that every child in Ukraine deserves good educational opportunities,” said Tetiana Kopytchuk, JDC’s coordinator of innovation projects in Ukraine. “For some of our students, this project is the only chance to learn. For this reason, we have to keep on going.”

red

Employment

For Jews living through shelling and continuing uncertainty, the need for meaningful work and financial independence is as urgent as it’s ever been. That’s where JOINTECH Talent comes in — the new JDC global online employment platform that leverages innovative technology to connect Ukrainian Jewish professionals with remote employment opportunities. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img class="wp-image-37490" src="https://jdcorg-media.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20241031-S2-UK-EMP-Mid.jpg" alt="Tetiana Kopytchuk, the JOINTECH Talent coordinator, monitors an English class in Odesa." /></figure> “By providing learning opportunities and fostering freelancing skills through platforms like Fiverr, JOINTECH Talent offers financial freedom and employment to our community members,” said Kopytchuk, who also oversees this initiative. “What we’re doing is innovative not only because of the technology we’re deploying, but the systems of support we’re creating amongst Jewish freelancers: We’re cultivating community.” Hundreds of Ukrainian Jews are connected to the employment platform, and scores of others have taken “Skill Up” courses in finance, business management, English, and graphic design. In addition, five “hubs” — safe workplaces equipped with reliable internet, generators, and bomb shelters — have been set up in Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kryvyi Rih, Odesa, and Zaporizhzhia. For Viktoriia Riepka, a Poltava native who joined the platform as a freelancer and now works for JDC as a grants coordinator, the program gave her a boost at a critical moment. <figure class="ar-q wp-block-pullquote"> <blockquote class="has-text-color css-qmq6vp"> JDC is like fuel — it powers everything.” </blockquote> Viktoriia Riepka JOINTECH Talent Participant </figure> “Without JOINTECH Talent, I wouldn’t have the financial independence I have right now,” Riepka said. “I see opportunities and real prospects, both for myself and for so many others. We need that hope these days to light the dark tunnel we’re in.” The initiative is a “bridge to the future” and a chance to develop relevant skills that will pay dividends even after the conflict concludes, said Yulia Savina, JOINTECH Talent’s community support coordinator in Odesa. <figure class="ar-q wp-block-pullquote"> <blockquote class="has-text-color css-qmq6vp"> These days, Jewish life shouldn’t just satisfy social and spiritual needs — it should give community members practical tools for realizing their potential. Our main task here isn’t just to find people employment but to see the humanity in each person.” </blockquote> Yulia Savina Community Support Coordinator </figure>

red

Trauma Support

Yelena Mashurenko can still hear the terror in her 10-year-old daughter’s voice. “When Odesa was bombed more heavily, she told me, ‘Mommy, I don’t want to die!’” Mashurenko recalled. “I wouldn’t wish for my worst enemy’s child to go through what our children are going through now. <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img class="wp-image-37490" src="https://jdcorg-media.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20241031-S2-UK-TS-Mid.jpg" alt="JDC’s Superhero Camp fosters psychological resilience in mothers and children."/></figure> Overwhelmed and not sure what to do next, the family began participating in the city’s Or Shalom trauma support center — a JDC psychological support initiative that uses individual and group sessions, along with innovative techniques like mindful breathing, and narrative, neuro-linguistic, sand, and fairytale therapy to help strengthen the resilience of traumatized Ukrainian Jews. “Thank God she’s become stronger,” Mashurenko said of her daughter. “I’m so grateful for all the Jewish community does for us, our families, and our children.” Across Ukraine, eight trauma support centers — in Odesa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Lviv, Poltava, and Zaporizhzhia — have provided psychological support to more than 1,700 Jews in need. JDC also works to boost the resilience of internally displaced mothers and their children through Superhero Camp, one of many family retreats that remind Ukrainian Jews of their inner spiritual reserves and provide them with a respite from the challenges of daily life in Ukraine. For Tatiana Turbanova, who lives in Cherkasy, attending the camp was a transformative experience. When she returned home, she began training as a therapist and volunteering to lead support groups for elderly Jews in the city. “You leave having fully rebooted your brain, reassessing who you are and where you belong,” she said. “The time spent there helps you unlock your potential, and for me, Superhero Camp was the blueprint that empowered me to change my life.” That fresh start and reminder of Ukrainian Jews’ own agency in their lives is the goal, said Hryhorii Hryshilo, a Kyiv-based psychologist and madrich (counselor) for the camp.

red

{}

I tell them it’s normal to care for your mental health, and I show people they have the resources to deal with difficult situations.

It’s going to be a long path toward recovery for all of us, and though we’re just taking our first steps, we walk this path together.”

Hryhorii Hryshilo

Psychologist and Madrich

Online education

Crisis in Ukraine: JDC Responds