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Jewish Federation Leaders
Visit Poland, Ukraine Border
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
I n the six duffl e bags stuff ed with
the essentials — diapers, tooth-
brushes, toothpaste and clothing
— one would not expect to fi nd several
new Barbie dolls.

But to Jewish Federation of Greater
Philadelphia President and CEO
Michael Balaban, the dolls were “some-
thing that, in such a traumatic time, a
child could cling on to with a smile.”
Th e dolls, along with the rest of the
donations packed into the six duffl es,
were distributed to Ukrainian refugees
on the Medyka border between Poland
and Ukraine as part of Balaban and
Jewish Federation board of directors
Co-Chair Gail Norry’s trip to Poland
with a small delegation of organiza-
tions led by the Jewish Federations of
North America.

From March 21-23, the Jewish
Federation leaders met with Joint
Distribution Committee/Jewish
Agency members at the border and
traveled to Lublin to meet with Jewish
refugees at the Chochmei Lublin
Yeshiva Building.

“It was all happening in real time,”
Norry said. “We weren’t just being
shown the Jewish community impact
that we have there; we were truly
seeing it.”
In addition to distributing supplies,
Balaban and Norry visited the Focus
hotel, where they observed Jewish
Jewish Federation President and CEO Michael Balaban and board of
directors Co-Chair Gail Norry visited the Poland-Ukraine border on March
21-23 as part of a Jewish Federations of North America delegation.

Courtesy of Amy Swiatek
6 MARCH 31, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Agency members processing Jewish
refugees trying to make aliyah. Since
the onset of the war, 3,000 people have
made aliyah, Norry said.

JFNA has raised and dispersed
$30 million for its emergency fund
for Ukraine. Th e Jewish Federation
of Greater Philadelphia raised more
than $1 million from more than 1,200
donors. With those dollars, JFNA bought
out hotel rooms of multiple hotels near
Warsaw to house refugees temporarily.

Th ey’ve funded 300 buses and have
set up a hotline for refugees to call
loved ones, which has already gener-
ated more than 24,000 calls.

Upon arriving at the border, Balaban
and Norry were struck by the presence
of the Israeli fl ag. Th e Israeli govern-
ment set up a fi eld hospital in Lviv in
mid-March. “Th ere are throngs of Israeli volun-
teers, in addition to the Jewish Agency
and the JDC, who have come on their
own to help with the humanitarian
eff ort,” Norry said.

All things considered, the scene at
the border was more organized than
Balaban and Norry expected, with
forethought put into the needs of the
incoming refugees.

“Right at the gate at the border, there
was a lineup of strollers — identical
strollers,” Balaban said. “It dawned on
me that people grabbed their children
and left and didn’t have room for the
strollers. People had gone out and pur-