The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia is grateful for the extraordinary support of our Jewish community during the crisis in Ukraine. As of April 8, our Emergency Response campaign focused on Ukraine has surpassed $1 million, which aids in providing critical humanitarian work on the ground.

This tremendous effort is part of a North American emergency fundraising campaign. As of April 21, the Jewish Federations announced that the aid to Ukraine has topped $50M. Funds have been allocated to Thirty-five NGOs that are operating on the ground in Ukraine and neighboring countries, including our core partner agencies, The Jewish Agency for Israel, The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), and World ORT. They are using these funds to provide housing, clothing, cash assistance, medical attention, mental health services, life-saving rescue operations, security, and transportation to refugees, including those who are making Aliyah.  To take just some striking examples from the work that two of our partners, the JDC and Jewish Agency are doing:    

• 34,000 people have been served through the JDC
• 2,415 people have received medical assistance
• 12,276 people have been evacuated to other countries
• 1,800 people have been treated using telemedicine at Israel’s field hospital
• 11 emergency hotlines have been set up
• Over 11,500 olim have come to Israel from Ukraine and Russia
• 18 facilities have been operated at 5 border crossings

Thanks to Jewish Federation funds, thousands of Ukrainian Jewish refugees joined Passover seders and celebrated their freedom. 

• The Jewish Agency hosted seders in Warsaw, Budapest and Romania with Ukrainian refugees, as well as seders in Israel with new Ukrainian olim.
• The JDC hosted a total of nine seders in Moldova, Hungary and Poland. JDC also  organized more than fifteen online seders for Jews in Ukraine who were unable to leave their homes. 
• Thousands of special haggadot in Russian and Hebrew were sent by JDC and the Jewish Agency for use at the seders, in partnership with Jewish Federations, the Harold Grinspoon Foundation’s PJ Library, and Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration.

Funds raised are also supporting the Jewish Federations’ creation of a first-of-its-kind central volunteer hub that will recruit and place hundreds of skilled volunteers over the coming months to provide much-needed services on the ground through our partner aid organizations.  Over 30 of these volunteers have already been deployed to Budapest, Warsaw and the Poland-Ukraine border.

“Jewish Federations are unique in the key role we are playing both in providing tremendous amounts of aid to refugees as well as advocating for refugee resettlement,” said Jewish Federations of North America President and CEO Eric Fingerhut. “This crisis will unfold in ways which nobody can predict, but what is sure is that Jewish Federations will continue to play a frontline role in the response and long-term strategy development in order to alleviate suffering and help refugees rebuild their lives.”

Help The Crisis in Ukraine Now
Click here to donate to the Emergency Response Fund