Our Mission

To feed those remaining survivors of the Holocaust and the Jewish poor of Eastern Europe, and make the remaining years of their lives as comfortable as possible

Our mission has shifted in response to the brutal invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military.
Most of our soup kitchens are no longer operable due to the war.

Today, and for the foreseeable future, we focus on providing food parcels and necessary aid for survival in Ukraine, and are providing support to refugees who are gathering at border crossings near Moldova, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Romania.

This support includes transport and distribution of food, clothing, and medicine, as well as partnering with organizations to help the evacuation of orphans to Israel.

Your donations are sent directly to brave volunteers and partners in the Chevra network who are selflessly working around the clock to feed, clothe, and shelter refugees and those who must shelter in place.

We have soup kitchens throughout Ukraine serving regular nourishing meals to 1400 people every day.

**Our soup kitchen operations have been temporarily halted by hostilities of war. We are still delivering food parcels within Ukraine and at the borders.

"Who is my neighbor?"

The Ukrainian city of Kharkiv is on the border with Russia. Fighting there has been particularly severe with the human toll being likened to the aftermath of the Battle of Stalingrad.

Founded in the 17th c, Kharkiv was rebuilt from the ashes of WWII as a strategic communications center for Ukraine and a center of Ukrainian culture and higher education.

The destruction raining down on Kharkiv from Russian missiles and tanks is indiscriminate and unimaginable in the 21st century. To put it in the starkest terms of the human toll, as of this update (20 March 2022) Kharkiv is out of body bags and coffins according to the Washington Post.

In the midst of this, Chevra volunteers stay to aid their neighbors. Here is a note we received from one of our heroes on the ground in Kharkiv, Vladislav:

"A 90-year old woman with a sick son lives next to me on the fourth floor. She has no one to even go to the store. Today I brought her white loaves, milk, raisins, marshmallows.

I have been helping her since the first days of the war. She is very worried. She rejoices when I bring her food.

I have been buying her groceries with my own money for several days at a time. Almost $100 per month. Is that too much for happiness?

Who is my neighbor? Someone who needs help!

Kharkiv is a hero city! The people who stayed here and help each other are heroes! One example: in the early days of the war, it was difficult, almost impossible, to buy bread and other products. Empty shelves. Now you can buy both bread and groceries. Some pharmacies have opened. My friend Serezha works as a driver in a pharmacy and delivers medicines, risking his own life.

This people cannot be defeated!"

Kharkov Synagogue (2008)
(Ace^eVg, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

A message from Vadislav in Kharkiv

CHEVRA'S LIFE-SAVING HUMANITARIAN WORK INCLUDES THESE THREE PILLARS

immigration

Refugees from the conflict have no documentation: Most olim come to us with only what they can carry and none of the necessary resources or documentation for immigration.
We are the lifeline to help refugees get necessary papers for immigration: We support olim throughout the process of obtaining documentation, administrative processes, and paying for passports.

The deteriorating economic situation and the rise of antisemitism in Ukraine are significant factors influencing the difficult decision of Ukrainian Jews to immigrate to Israel. For many of the people served by Chevra, there simply are no other choices to their extreme hardship but to create a new life in their ancestral homeland.

Chevra provides assistance with the immigration process in the Ukraine and partners with other charitable organizations on the ground in Israel to facilitate the necessary paperwork, transportation, transitional housing, and in some cases medical care, for the Ukrainian Olim to find stability and hope.

Be a Hero

from our team on the ground in Ukraine

We have helped hundreds of olim from the war zone to make aliya. Most of the people do not have passports or any other documents on them. We helped physically and sometime financially with buying international passports and obtaining various documents for Sochnut (Jewish Agency for Israel.) Alexander, a young man from Shakhtersk who walked to the closest city, said he left Shakhtersk, walking through the dead bodies.

He had been with his parents under the fire of guns. Like so many, when he arrived in Kiev, he had only what he could carry. He came alone to Kiev with just a plastic bag, without a change of clothes, and with one pair of sandals. His parents stayed in the Zaporizhe region. On his arrival we filed to make his international passport, gave him housing in the health center with food. Because of the help of donors, he arrived safely in Israel!

education

We'd love to speak to your group: Speaking to groups is the most effective way to engage people in the mission of Chevra
Contact us: We will work with you to co-create an event that educates, entertains, motivates and inspires.
COVID-19 Considerations: We are able to run live zoom meetings with Q&A sessions for your group as well as webinars.
Synagogues, community organizations, and church groups: We'll create a program that is appropriate for your community.

Chevra focuses on education and community building both in Ukraine and in the US to raise awareness of the plight of Jewish Holocaust survivors and Jewish people impacted by the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine that began in 2014.

You are an important part of this pillar. By inviting us to speak to your community or congregation in the US, you make it possible for dozens, even hundreds, of supporters to join us and let the people of eastern Europe and Ukraine know they are not forgotten. We can accommodate groups and events across the US via live Zoom links and a very limited number of in-person engagements as COVID-19 restrictions permit.

Our volunteer network in Eastern Europe provides opportunities through our soup kitchens for people to congregate, celebrate and enjoy learning as well as entertainment.

Invite us to speak to your group

On average, each educational event in the US enables us to feed 8 people for a year.

food security in Ukraine

Imagine having no idea where you will find a meal, when your only income is a government stipend that pays the rent for a tiny apartment and nothing more. Our soup kitchens provide hot, nourishing meals for 1400 people five days a week in the Ukraine, as well as the opportunity for social interaction. On weekends, and during COVID-19 lockdowns, we provide food parcels for people to take home. It costs us about $33 a month to feed someone for the month - less than the cost of a dinner out for fast food for a family of four here in the US.

The soup kitchens become the locus of community, restoration and hope in a time when isolation can be severe. It is estimated that there are more than 125,000 displaced and in need of hot meals. Your contribution helps our delivery of meals to grow to serve more people day-to-day and month-to-month.

Be a Hero

For $33 a Month, we can provide hot, nourishing meals for one person for a month through our soup kitchens that feed both body and spirit.

CHEVRA EXTENDS HUMANITARIAN AID

THROUGH A DEDICATED NETWORK

Chevra also supports other humanitarian efforts in the Land of Israel, providing aid to victims of terror attacks. Our humanitarian mission is extended through groups whose mission is to supply humanitarian aid stations all over Israel — for new immigrants, the homeless, unemployed and single-parent families. We also supply to hospitals, children’s welfare villages, the IDF, Holocaust Survivor centers, facilities for the disabled and other institutions.

It isn't often you have the opportunity to make the difference between life and death for someone else

The armed conflict between Russian and Ukraine began in 2014 and created over 120,000 refugees. The most destitute of these include families with children, the elderly, former professionals - whose lives as they knew them were wiped out.

Today we are able to feed about 1,400 people a month.

Our humanitarian aid warms them, feeds them, lifts their spirits, helps to house them. It is a life-and-death difference - for just $33 a month per person.

The need is very great. Please be a hero and join us.