Who would have thought we’d get to this? For the first time in Europe for decades, we’re looking at Jewish refugees. Thousands have fled their homes. There are over 300,000 refugees in Ukraine and the surrounding areas. Thousands have been killed.

Nearly 20,000 Jews are living in active war zones. There’s a lot of gunfire and destroyed buildings. Large supermarkets are closed, most medications are unavailable, and ATMs don’t work. The water supply is sketchy and the buses aren’t running properly, if at all.

We can help many of them. Our partners in the Jewish Agency for Israel have geared up their aliyah support for those who want to move to Israel. Aliyah is up 150 percent in the last six months from Ukraine. Meanwhile, our partners in the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee are on the ground providing food, medicine, homecare and other support for thousands of the most vulnerable. Both of them, along with World ORT, are ensuring the vibrancy and continuation of Jewish life and community. And the Tikva Home cares for hundreds of Jewish orphans in the Odessa area.

We have colleagues who literally clamber through barricades and dodge sniper fire…who trudge through chest-high snowdrifts…who risk everything to bring a food package or water or medicine to elderly Holocaust survivors. To the vulnerable. To those who need us. Because of you, who help our annual campaign.

Our help is literally the difference between life and death. And we can’t turn away…because no one else is going to step up in the way we can to help those in need. There are too many who say, “someone else will help.” But that’s us. We are the someone else.

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