HUMANITARIAN AID FOR UKRAINIAN REFUGEES

THE JEWISH FEDERATION ESTABLISHED THE UKRAINE EMERGENCY FUND WHEN THE WAR BROKE OUT IN FEBRUARY 2022. OUR COMMUNITY HELPED RAISE MORE THAN $115,000 FOR UKRAINIAN REFUGEES. THE FUNDS WERE ALLOCATED TO OUR PARTNERS ON THE GROUND WHO HAD ESTABLISHED A STRONGHOLD IN THAT REGION. THEIR ABILITY TO PROVIDE MEDICAL ATTENTION, SUPPLIES, TRANSPORTATION, FOOD, AND ASSISTANCE IMMEDIATELY WAS LIFE-SAVING.

BELOW IS VICTORIA’ SIMPSON’S REFUGEE STORY WHERE SHE RECOUNTS HER ESCAPE FROM UKRAINE WITH HER UNCLE.

Victoria Simpson worked tirelessly to help her 79-year-old uncle Leonid, who suffers from leg paralysis, find suitable arrangements for the 24-hour journey from Kharkiv to Warsaw. Now, she says she intends “to learn Hebrew and build my life in Israel from scratch.”

Victoria Simpson, 34, has all the necessary documents to obtain the status of a Jewish refugee in Germany. Friends who already live there have invited her to join them and receive a status that comes with the generous social assistance provided to Jews by the German government.

But Victoria wants to be in Israel.

“My heart is connected to this country, even though I have no relatives in Israel, and only a few acquaintances,” she says. “But I know I will be with my people, and therefore I will feel at home.”

Victoria and her uncle Leonid, 79, who suffers from leg paralysis, are expected to undergo the consular examination easily and quickly. The only possession she managed to get out of Kharkiv, Ukraine, which came under continuous shelling, was a briefcase with all the documents she needed for immigration.

Among them are the original birth certificates of her mother and grandmother, which testify to their belonging to the Jewish people. Victoria is an equestrian expert. She became interested in horses from age 8, participated in competitions, was a children’s horseback riding trainer, and worked as a horse breeder in private stables in Kharkiv and in an elite horse riders club in Kyiv. Leonid, her mother’s brother, is a basketball and handball coach. He has worked in that field all his life. Everything was fine with his health until he fell ill a few months before the war, and now his legs are permanently paralyzed.

In Kharkiv, the area where Victoria’s apartment was located was under fire almost from the first moments of the war. When the shelling began, she ran down to the basement and was forced to leave Leonid in their apartment, because she did not have the physical strength to carry him to the basement. Now, she has a hard time describing the feelings of fear mixed with guilt while sitting in the basement. Fortunately, the house was not damaged.

During the shelling, Victoria tried to find ample space on buses or rescue cars that brought people out of Kharkiv. But there were only seats available, and that did not suit Leonid due to the situation surrounding his health. For more than three weeks, she kept searching, without success.

“My friends already told me to give up and that I had tried everything I could,” she says. “But I knew that if I left without him, I would suffer all my life for leaving my helpless uncle to die alone.”

Without any outside help, as nurses and social workers refused to come to Kharkiv, Victoria continued to care for her elderly uncle. She gave him injections and infusions. She changed his catheters. Her aunt was registered with the local “Chesed” organization, allowing them to ultimately find Leonid a spot in an ambulance. But the ambulance still had to be reached, and everyone refused to travel to Victoria’s home, which was under almost constant shelling. Finally, a brave driver who was up for the task managed to transport Leonid to the ambulance. Victoria also took her dog with her. “She’s like a family member and I could not leave her,” she says.

The trip to Warsaw lasted 24 hours, during which time she cared for Leonid in the ambulance. In Warsaw, representatives from The Jewish Agency for Israel met them. During the trip, Leonid felt unwell, and Jewish Agency staffers immediately took him to the hospital upon his arrival. He was so weak that the doctors in the emergency room told Victoria that he had almost no chance of surviving. But they did not properly appreciate the strength of the former athlete, and after a few days, Leonid began to recover. Victoria now resides at a Jewish Agency Aliyah Center and is awaiting consular review.

Both JDC and The Jewish Agency for Israel are Federation’s partner organizations overseas.

JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) is a Jewish relief organization that was on the ground helping vulnerable Jews escape war-ridden Ukraine.

The Jewish Agency provides the global framework for Aliyah, ensures global Jewish safety, strengthens Jewish identity and connects Jews to Israel and one another.