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New Year’s Resolution: Holocaust Survivors Needs Continue into 2021
BY MARCY GRINGLAS
THE SECULAR NEW YEAR
can be similar to the Jewish
new year. For both, we reflect
on the year that has passed,
and we set intentions for the
new year to come.

Over these past weeks of
reflection, renewal and hopeful
resolutions, we look back at
what we have accomplished as
a community and we plan for
the impact we can make when
we join together and place our
focus on where it is needed
most. Many of us felt ready to
say goodbye to 2020, a year in
which those who were most
vulnerable were made even
more so. The 30,000 Holocaust
survivors living in poverty
across the United States were
among that population, and,
became, like so many others,
that much more disadvantaged
and isolated.

And yet, amid the darkness
of the pandemic, KAVOD
SHEF (Survivors of the
Holocaust Emergency Fund)
serves as a bright light of assis-
tance for survivor emergency
needs. The KAVOD SHEF
initiative, partners with the
national nonprofit aid organi-
zation KAVOD, and directly
responds to survivor needs in
nine emergency areas: food,
medical, dental, vision, urgent
home needs (utilities, rent,
repairs), emergency home care,
transportation, essential deliv-
eries and PPE.

Seed the Dream Foundation
proudly partners with more
than 25 foundations and
philanthropists to provide
national dollars that match all
funds raised by local commu-
nities and enables KAVOD
SHEF to address these ongoing
and increasing needs.

What began in 2019
as emergency services for
Holocaust survivors across 12
cities, including Philadelphia,
quickly expanded in 2020
to community partnerships
in more than 28 U.S. cities.

Together, we succeeded in
filling more than 15,000
emergency requests across the
country — including 2,000
emergency assistance requests
right here in our Greater
Philadelphia community.

When we come together and
work together, our collective
reach extends beyond what we
thought possible.

KAVOD SHEF has become
our proof. And, we have more
to do as we enter into this
new year. Too many Holocaust
survivors, those who survived
the unimaginable, are suffering
still. Some face food insecurity,
while others struggle to keep
their homes. While some are
forced to choose between heat
or medical bills, others cannot
afford basic home repairs.

My resolution for this new
year is simple: We can and
must do more to alleviate these
impossible choices and help
our survivors live in dignity
during their last years.

Seed the Dream Foundation
remains dedicated
to addressing the emergency
needs of Holocaust survivors
and supporting SHEF in the
United States and Israel.

In 2021, we are committed to
expanding these partnerships. It
is our hope that current partners
and new partners will join
together with us to exponentially
increase the resources avail-
able for our survivors. Through
this unique initiative, we work
together with Jewish Federations
such as the Jewish Federation
of Greater Philadelphia, Jewish
Family Service agencies, national
philanthropic partners and local
donors to bring much needed
emergency aid to our survivor
community and amplify our
impact. One hundred percent
of all funds raised are directed
toward these needs — and our
heroic KAVOD staff partners
continue to work tirelessly to fill
all of the survivor requests with
urgency. In 2021, Seed the Dream
Foundation will renew our
commitment to match all
national dollars raised for
KAVOD SHEF during the
next year. As a result of the
COVID-19 crisis, Holocaust
survivors in Philadelphia
and across the United States
need us even more. We will
continue to band together with
local and national organiza-
tions to widen and deepen our
reach, and we ask you to join
us. The Jewish Federation of
Greater Philadelphia remains
our strong and steadfast local
partner. As we move into what
we hope will be a much brighter
new year, we are grateful for
their leadership and the light
they continue to bring to the
ever-growing needs of our
survivor population.

This is the time for us to come
together, work together and
act together, to ensure that the
emergency needs of Holocaust
survivors are met. Let us show
our survivors that they are not
forgotten. We are here.

As we begin this new
year with new hope and new
optimism, please join us in our
collective communal response.

May 2021 bring health, light
and intention.

Survivors in need, please call
this confidential national phone
hotline for assistance today:
720-295-8484. l
Nonprofit organizations are
guided by mission and values.

When the coronavirus hit, the
pressure to respond to those in
need was enormous. Leaders were
challenged to find ways for their
organizations to not only survive
this crisis but also to thrive.

The drive to design innovative
and sustainable opportunities
to deliver services, the ability to
be nimble and the openness to
pivoting to new modes of outreach
were integral to thriving.

In the many discussions I
had with nonprofit leaders in the
Greater Philadelphia area and
across the country, conversations
centered on how organizations
were raising dollars to support
new needs, which technologies
could be used to reach those
who were isolated, and how
leaders drew on enhanced
communication strategies to
be transparent about decision-
making and support staff.

I have found that the most
profound sharing that has
occurred with other executives
has centered on our vulnera-
bility as leaders. Looked to for
answers and guidance, leaders
at this time experienced the
same fears and anxieties as
their associates, consequently
drawing them closer together
and inspiring a greater ability
for everyone to “hang in” and
work through uncertainty.

Marcy Gringlas is the president
and co-founder of Seed the Dream
Foundation. What Is the Story That Will Be Told?
BY PAULA GOLDSTEIN
THE PFIZER VACCINES
are being distributed, and
our country has approached
the beginning of the end of a
critically challenging time.

COVID-19 has ravaged us,
taking the lives of 1.8 million
14 JANUARY 7, 2021
people worldwide and more
than 350,000 in the United
States. Life has changed dramat-
ically, and many say there is no
going back to the way things
were before. How our world will
change in the long term has yet
to be determined.

One thing I continue
to think about, though, as a
leader of a nonprofit, is the
story that will be told: How
will our response toward our
employees and our community
be remembered when we look
back on the pandemic?
An analogy to answering
the above question could come
from how we conceptualize a
person’s life after they die.

We frequently hear family
and friends recount the
deceased’s life with less focus
on their successes and more on
the quality of their relationships
and the choices they made. The
memories of that individual are
formed by their values and how
those values guided their life.

Although it’s certainly not
the same with the pandemic, the
coronavirus is a force that has
inserted its presence into our lives
over the past year, and as we work
to eradicate it, we can perhaps
apply the same principles upon
its death to how we existed during
this time, providing life lessons
on what is ultimately important
— namely, how we take care of
and support one another in the
midst of unfathomable challenge.

JEWISH EXPONENT
See Goldstein, Page 27
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM