Hello everyone!
I just started sponsoring a Holocaust survivor. However, my
monthly donation gets allotted to just groceries by the agency, so I
would like to raise additional funds for pharmacy/medical costs not
covered by insurance/anything of her choosing. Anyone in old age,
especially those who had to live through the atrocities of the
Holocaust, deserves to live more than comfortably. Therefore, any
amount you are able to contribute and/or if you have kind words of
encouragement for me to include in her card, then it would all be
greatly appreciated. Дуже дякую!
Below is the her bio provided by the agency:
The survivor we've matched you with is a 91 year old woman named Riva who lives in a 1 bedroom rental apartment under SCRIE (Senior Citizen Rent Increase Exemption) where she has been for the past 25 years.
Riva was born on February 5th, 1930 in Zhmerinka, Ukraine.
Her family moved to Donetsk, Ukraine/USSR and were then forced to flee to Novosibirsk in September of 1941. In May 1943 they traveled to Bukhara, USSR and in 1945 they were able to return to Donetsk.
Her brother and father were both drafted to the Soviet Army. Her father was killed, but her brother survived and died in Russia in 2000. During the war, Riva's mother worked as a nurse and feared being deployed to the front, which would leave Riva an orphan. She recalls that her mother's superior threatened to have her deployed just because she was Jewish.
After the war Riva completed law school and initially was unable to find a job due to being Jewish. She went on to have a successful career as an attorney for a manufacturing company. In 1993 Riva, her husband and their daughter (their son stayed in Russia) moved to the U.S. Sadly, in 1994, her husband passed away from a very aggressive cancer.
Riva now lives alone near her daughter and son-in-law but is very isolated due to her age, lack of English proficiency and declining mobility. In 2016 she had hip surgery after a bad fall. She struggles with dizzy spells and instability, insomnia, and cardiovascular problems. She uses a walker, and takes vitamins recommended by her doctor, but they are expensive and aren't covered by her health insurance. Her annual income is $10,296 from SSI and SNAP.
