Almost 40 percent of Holocaust survivors in Florida live at or near the poverty level. The goal of the Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service Holocaust Survivor Program is to enable survivors to live out their lives in their own homes, safely and with dignity. Because of the horrors experienced at the hands of the Nazis, Survivors do not fare well in congregate care facilities, such as nursing homes. Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service arranges for home health care, cleaning services, transportation to medical appointments and visits by a social worker and is committed to the concept of “aging in place” by enabling these Survivors to maintain independent lives in the community for as long as possible.
Survivors are becoming frailer and require more services. These survivors are outliving all projections. The same “will to live” that 65 or 70 years ago kept them going is still there. Unfortunately the combination of (i) an increase in the survivors needing help, (ii) the amount of help they need (iii) uncertainty in the level and duration of grants from the Claims Council and (iv) a probable reduction in funding from the State of Florida, RRJFS is facing the risk of having to create a waiting list, and/or the need to reduce services to those it currently helps. In March of 2011 an influx of “new” survivors (learning of Ruth Rales’ services through an annual community gathering), forced the needed funds to go far beyond the budgeted allocation. On hearing of this HOT immediately announced a 1/3 of $60,000 Challenge Grant and within 24 hours two parties met the match and RRJFS Holocaust Survivor Budget was rebalanced with 26 more Survivors being helped, without any reduction in the level of service to the others.
Will there be more Survivors to help this year?
Will survivors who until now were physically able to take care of themselves or who had the money to hire help now turn to RRJFS for help?
And if they do, where will the funding come to help them?
And with the population of survivors that they have been helping a year older, will they need more help?
And if so where will the funding come from?
This program ensures that frail, elderly Survivors of “the camps,” will be bathed and not be forced to spend time on their hands and knees cleaning their floors.
PLEASE designate whatever you can to help these poor souls who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
We would like our donors to designate $75,000:
$50,000 to provide for a fund could supply extra hours of help that RRJFS believes are necessary to give these survivors the dignity they are entitled to, and
$25,000 for a transportation fund to pay for the cost of transportation to medical appointments, grocery shopping, trips to the pharmacy, haircuts, vital social service programs and general errands.