It has been a busy week (give or take a few days)! With the
success of the survey results that was directly sent to survivors, we decided
to add another component. We decided that we would reach out to the children of
survivors and see if they have any thoughts on what their parents might need.
During our town hall meetings in October we had a couple of children of survivors
attend and they had some interested feedback on the needs of their parents,
which led us to then wonder if we shouldn’t just ask their children at a
special meeting. There is a group in the area here, called CHAIM that is
comprised of the children and grandchildren of survivors. We reached out to them and were invited to
speak at their board meeting. We went and briefly explained what I am doing as
a VISTA for JFS and the survivor community, and then asked them if they thought
the children of survivors would want to have an opportunity to be heard. It was
a resounding yes from everyone there and we agreed to collaborate for this
phase of the needs assessment. CHAIM will provide the addresses to the children
of survivors and I will develop a survey to assess their parent’s needs as well
as a letter/flyer to invite them to a town hall meeting where they can come and
not only discuss their parent’s needs, but also find out the services provided
by JFS. At the board meeting, we found out that, many of the people in the
community do not know what JFS does, or that we even provide assistance for
survivors. With that in mind, we will be sure to include a fair amount of time
during our town hall to discuss the services provided by JFS.
The next day I had the great fortune to be able to meet up
with the Holocaust Advisory Committee that meets quarterly and is the group of
survivors that help guide us in relation to our work with the Claims
Conference. They have been a great help, and a major advocate, for my work here
at JFS. I was able to share with them the preliminary results of the needs
assessment survey and they were able to respond with their reactions, which
were very positive. They agreed with all of the conclusions drawn so far and
agreed that the children of survivors may offer an important window into the
needs of survivors.
For years at JFS there has been discussions about generating
a newsletter for the survivor community about a variety of topics of relevance
to the survivor community (new indemnification funds, expansion or changes to
services provided, community outreach information, etc.). With the recent
announcement of an increase in funds from the Claims Conference and new
indemnification funds coming available in the New Year, the feeling that we
need to create a newsletter to inform the community has only grown. During our
meeting with the committee we asked if they felt this would also be a
worthwhile endeavor and they agreed that it would be good to have a newsletter
a couple of times a year that keeps survivors up to date on what is going on
both at JFS and in the complicated world of indemnification and the Claims
Conference. We wanted to make sure that the newsletter represents the interests
of survivors and asked if members of the committee would also be interested in
working with me to develop the articles, etc. The thought was that this way the
newsletter would focus on the questions of the survivor community as well as
the information the survivor community needs. I’m very excited about this new
project and look forward to working both with JFS, the Holocaust Advisory
Committee and the local agencies that work with survivors.
Finally, I got to attend the December Café Europa event at
the Jewish Community Center in Oak Park. This is always one of the best parts
of my job. I get to sit and talk with Holocaust survivors. Not just about their
needs, but also about what they have been doing lately, what I have been doing,
the weather, whatever comes up. It is a great opportunity for me to remind
myself why I am doing what I’m doing. This time the Café Europa was a special
event. We got to celebrate Chanukah! Not being Jewish myself, I have never
really participated in the traditions associated with the holiday, so this was
an opportunity not only for me to learn, but also for me to be taught by an
amazing group of survivors. We were joined children from a local Jewish school
who come every year to meet survivors and learn what it was like when the
survivors celebrated Chanukah as children and during World War II. It was an
incredibly moving site to see the future generations of Jewish children sitting
and eating potato latkes with survivors and discussing the past, and the
future. This also gave me the opportunity to try my very first latkes, which
was delicious and I would like to eat every day if I could! After we ate, a
young man was called up to be offered congratulations by the group because he
will soon have his bar mitzvah. After loud applause from his peers as well as
the survivors, the real party began. The
music was a mix of traditional Jewish music and some newer more popular music.
Soon enough a survivor had demanded I come dance with her and a young man from
the school and the three of us were up and dancing to “I’ve got a feeling”
which led to a great time explaining to the survivor what the song was about,
and why someone would write a song like that. Either way, we had a lot of fun
as we all danced around the room. This experience is one of the most touching
and memorable ones I have had so far at JFS, and it reignited my passion for
what I am here to do.
Here are a few pictures I snapped at the Cafe Europa
