We recruit Adopt-a-Bubbe coordinators, who are themselves younger pensioners. They know their Jewish community and we tell them to find the most vulnerable pensioners in their community who need help and then ask them what they need. We provide funds so our coordinators can purchase and deliver what their clients need. Our coordinators send back reports to us with photographs of their clients and what they purchased for them.
We ship boxes of clothing (especially warm coats, sweaters and shoes) and medicine throughout the year to many Jewish communities in Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. We rely on donations of clothing and shoes in good condition and also on donations of medicine from physicians and individuals. We also purchase vitamins and over-the-counter-medicine for our many clients. Of course all these items are usually available in the former Soviet Union, but our clients cannot afford them.
We work with a special shipping company that sees our boxes through customs and delivers them to our Adopt-a-Bubbe program or to a particular school. Our Adopt-a-Bubbe coordinators distribute the aid to their clients.
We support “Warm Houses” where about a dozen pensioners meet regularly in a neighborhood apartment to talk, sing and celebrate Jewish and secular holidays and birthdays. Our funds provide a hot meal for these gatherings because our clients can no longer afford to feed their guests.
We receive photos and thank-you notes from many “Warm House” gatherings. They tell us just how important this is for elderly Jews who often live alone. In a number of Jewish communities we serve, these gatherings are the only organized Jewish event in their community. Those who attend become a close knit group and support one another in sickness and in health.
We provide opportunities for a Bar and Bat Mitzvah twinning with students in the U.S. who connect with youngsters in the former Soviet Union. Most of our contacts are with Jewish Day School students in Ukraine. We provide pen pals with a student at a Jewish Day School.
Some of our Bar and Bat Mitzvah twins also collect items for the Jewish Day School, like shoes (in very good condition), warm sweaters, coats, scarves, gloves and mittens, and school supplies (such as paper, markers, glue, stickers and paint). The Jewish Day Schools tell us that they need shoes for their students because new shoes are very expensive. This is a wonderful way to involve friends and guests who celebrate with you to participate in this mitzvah. The items are sent to our office for re-packing and shipment to the Jewish Day Schools. We let the school know that they came from your mitzvah!
We have an active Medical Program. We ship badly needed medicines with instructions in Russian to physicians who work with our Adopt-a-Bubbe program in Ukraine. We also have a committee of physicians here who monitor what we send. We welcome donations of medicine for the common ailments of pensioners – high blood pressure, acid reflux, ulcers, allergies, asthma, pain, infections, migraine headaches, diabetic supplies.
Some physicians donate medicine – mostly samples – which we re-pack to save space, and ship to our contacts. We purchase some medicine, diabetic supplies and vitamins in large quantities.
We also support free synagogue medical clinics in Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkov, Ukraine, with medicine and funds.
We collect and disseminate information on antisemitism in the former Soviet Union. Our files have been used by immigration lawyers in the U.S. working on asylum cases.
We publish a newsletter, "Post-Soviet Jewry Report," several times a year.
We visit our Adopt-a-Bubbe program every year and we write about the exchanges in our Trip Reports