Making the Connection: JDC's Ambassadors Symposium

Making the Connection was the theme of the JDC Ambassadors Symposium, May 6-7, focusing on how we can make a genuine and meaningful connection between us as caregivers and philanthropists and the people in need around the world that we help. 

The ideal connection would look very different from the top-down approach that too often has served to increase the divide among people. It would be about achieving true empathy, about empowering the people we help so that they are the best allies in helping themselves, and about stretching how we do philanthropy and engage others.

Monday's session looked at how we care for our friends as a model for how we do good in the world.

Park Avenue Synagogue’s Rabbi Cosgrove spoke about empathy and the Hebrew concept of arevut, the responsibility we have towards one another (click here). Letty Cottin Pogrebin spoke about her personal experience fighting breast cancer and the type of care that she sought from friends and family, and articulated principles that resonated with her experience and others' with whom she spoke. Foremost among them was the importance of listening to the voices and wishes of the people we want to help and not assuming that we know best.         

What might this principle look like if we put it into play in our humanitarian work as well as our personal lives?

There are few programs that better demonstrate JDC's vision of listening to and empowering the people we serve than Jay Ruderman’s groundbreaking work with disabled people in Israel -- a partnership among his family foundation, JDC and the Government of Israel that goes by the name Israel Unlimited.  A staggering 1 million people suffer from disabilities in Israel (key stats here), but the program does not focus on accessibility alone. Instead, it makes disabled people the actors in their own story -- helping them to challenge stigmatization (here's an excellent piece on an inspiring blind Arab Israeli woman) and build up their confidence and abilities to act as positive forces in their communities through volunteerism and a new emphasis on work.

 

Letter to friends: visiting Israel with JDC

Judah Kraushaar, member of the JDC Ambassadors Steering Committee, joined JDC's Board for a mission in Israel in early June 2012. Below are reflections that he shared with a group of his friends about the work and impact of JDC in Israel.

Friends,

I recently had the good fortune to travel with the board of The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) examining in depth its work in Israel. As you may know, the JDC has become one of my passions, and I hope you’ll allow me to share a small part of what I saw and learned from this incredibly stimulating experience. I’ve been to Israel many times typically as a tourist or in the context of my interest in political advocacy; but this trip allowed me to see a very different side of the country—it focused on the challenges posed by the soft underbelly of society, a world where the poor, disenfranchised, and even migrant populations struggle daily. In many countries, such a focus would have been totally depressing; but, as you might have guessed, the commitment in Israeli society to address social problems, combined with Israeli innovation and passion—and helped along by the JDC’s work—made this visit to Israel one of my most uplifting ever.

Bringing Holiday Sweetness to a Special Needs Boy in Zaporozhye



“I am really touched and surprised that in such hard times
there are people who are still ready to help,” says Vadim’s
mother, Nataliya, who relies on JDC’s monthly food
allowance to feed her family.

Five-year-old Vadim received a delicious surprise this Rosh Hashanah. His family, who normally subsists on whatever staples they can cover using their monthly JDC food allowance, got a special holiday package last month that included challah, honey, pomegranate juice, and sweets—likely the only ones Vadim will taste all year.

Single-mom Nataliya, 31, supports Vadim and his two-year-old brother Matvey on approximately $200 a month, which in Zaporozhye, Ukraine is barely enough to keep a roof over their heads. The family shares a room in an apartment that has no working bathroom or kitchen. Nataliya’s older brother and his family live in the main room, and her younger brother sleeps where the kitchen used to be.

As much as Nataliya would like to improve the family’s situation, every effort she makes is hampered by Vadim, who was born with congenital cerebral palsy. He is unable to walk or function independently, and fully relies on Nataliya, just like his toddler brother. Desperate for help, Nataliya turns to the Jewish community and depends on JDC—the only source of support in a country with few social safety nets for even its most helpless people.

Since Nataliya only gets occasional work as a sales clerk, the family mostly survives on what they receive from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ)-JDC Partnership for Children in the Former Soviet Union through the local Jewish Family Services (JFS). Vadim is one of the 30,000 children whose families depend on critical assistance such as a monthly food package, medication, clothing, and toys that the boys share.

At the same time, JDC provides special care for Vadim’s physical needs, supplying him with rehabilitation equipment to strengthen his limbs through the Tikva program for children with disabilities, supported by World Jewish Relief.

But Vadim’s cerebral palsy requires more targeted intervention to improve his mobility. Nataliya has been trying hopelessly to save up enough money to get him special massage treatment. Much to her surprise, the JFS, Tikva professionals, and some local volunteers organized an ongoing fundraiser to accompany each big event at their Jewish Community Center in order to raise money for Vadim’s massage course. When Natalia heard about the success of the first fundraiser, she was overjoyed.

“I am really touched and surprised that in such hard times there are people who are still ready to help.”