WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE CRISIS IN UKRAINE:

 

What’s happening?

 

Military conflict is escalating in Ukraine, home to 200,000 Jews. It was already one of the poorest Jewish communities in the world, many of which live on two dollars a day. Now, thousands of Jewish lives are at risk as violence escalates across the country. In response to the rapidly-rising needs of our Ukrainian Jewish friends and family—including for food, medical relief, security, evacuation, and much more—we have created the Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund for those who want to help through a financial gift.

 

How will the Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund help?

 

Gifts to the Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund will be invested in three critical priorities:

 

  1. Humanitarian relief: We will support the work of our partner, the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), in providing food and medical relief to those in need.

 

  1. Protecting lives and increasing security: The Jewish Agency for Israel—another UJA-funded partner—has mapped the Ukrainian Jewish community’s infrastructure and is providing immediate security grants to ensure that the community is protected from looting and attacks.

 

  1. Evacuation from conflict zones: The Jewish Agency for Israel is also arranging evacuation and Aliyah for Ukrainian Jewish refugees and will also provide additional relief for refugees in transit, like temporary housing and supplies.

 

Our partners on the ground have estimated that immediate and short-term needs already total $20 million, to be raised by Federations and others around the world. Your gift, united with the gifts of the Jewish people from around the world, will help save Jewish lives in this terrible crisis.

 

How is UJA already helping in the Ukraine?

 

Through our UJA-funded partners, the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and the Jewish Agency, gifts to UJA’s Annual Campaign are already working to help the Ukrainian Jewish community.

 

JDC has been in Ukraine for 30 years, and supports a network of 18 Hesed social welfare centres aiding Jews in need in 1,000 locations across Ukraine, as well as through related institutions like Jewish Family Services and JDC’s Jewish community volunteers corps. JDC also provides critically needed food, medicine, homecare, and other services to approximately 37,000 poor Jewish elderly, including 9,900 Holocaust survivors whose care is supported by Claims Conference funding, as well as 2,500 children-at-risk and their families.

 

Meanwhile, the Jewish Agency has already advanced $1 million for the emergency response in Ukraine and is working to facilitate evacuation for Jewish families and help for those who want to make Aliyah. For security reasons, details about these operations are not being shared at this time.

 

I have family or friends in Ukraine. Who can they reach out to for help?

 

The Jewish Agency has opened an Emergency Hotline to provide Ukrainian Jews with guidance and information regarding the Aliyah process, and general assistance for community members. The emergency hotline will operate in Hebrew, Ukrainian, and Russian.

 

  • Emergency hotline numbers:
    • Calling from Ukraine Toll Free: 0800504603
    • Local Numbers:
      • 0442300478
      • 38093651717
      • 380960979851
      • 0638318336
      • 380504691840
    • For Relatives in Israel:
      • Toll Free: 1800228055 extension 4
      • 02 6367714
      • 02 6461447

WANT TO HELP? DONATE NOW TO UJA’S UKRAINE EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND

UJA has launched a Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund to help the hundreds of thousands of Jews impacted by the devastating war in Ukraine and the growing crisis in the region.

 

All donations to the Relief Fund will address this urgent challenge by bolstering the vital work of UJA’s partner agencies through:

 

  • The efforts of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) to help Jews inside Ukraine and the bordering countries, providing food, supplies, medicine, social supports, and evacuation;
  • The efforts of the Jewish Agency in the region and in Israel, including security grants to Ukraine’s Jewish community, evacuation, care at transit centres in the bordering countries (including accommodations, food, and medical and psychological care), and assistance with Aliyah (immigration to Israel) – such as processing, air lifts, and support with resettlement;
  • The efforts of Jewish Immigrant Aid Services (JIAS) Toronto, and other UJA partner social service agencies in the GTA, to resettle Jews from the region impacted by the conflict and seeking to build a new life in Canada.

 

Our partners are working tirelessly to save lives in this historic crisis. Please donate today so that we can make an even bigger impact, together.