YOUR GIFT will directly help Ukrainian refugees in Krakow and people in Ukraine affected by war.

when donating, please write “Ukraine” in the comment box or in the memo line of a check

JCC Krakow Ukraine Response

Jonathan Ornstein, CEO, JCC Krakow

jonathan@jcckrakow.org

JCC Krakow is a key provider of services, a strategic partner, and a convener, having directly helped and supported over three hundred thousand Ukrainians so far. We are operating in Krakow as well as inside Ukraine and do not differentiate between Jews and non-Jews when providing support. Over 98% of Ukrainians who have received support from JCC Krakow are non-Jews. We have provided over 12 million dollars worth of direct support to Ukraine so far thanks to thousands of individual donors, foundations, synagogues and Jewish Federations.

CURRENT PROGRAMS

• Our JCC continues to function 7 days a week as a distribution point for food, medicine, hygienic supplies, toys, and clothing that we have received and purchased. The point serves over 1000 families weekly, and so far we’ve distributed over 530 tons of necessary supplies in our building. Additionally, we offer 100 free meals a day in our JCC.

• We are currently housing a total of 200+ Ukrainian refugees a night. We continue to house approximately 100 people in apartments in Krakow and the region, most of whom are vulnerable clients (people with medical needs, single parents with multiple children, the elderly). We have also created a temporary housing facility for mothers in a palace outside of Krakow and are housing 90 women and children there as we teach them Polish and help them enter the job market. Prior to the apartments, over 31,000 hotel room nights had been provided.

• We are supporting a day care facility for 100 refugee children.

• We renovated a center for pregnant women + new mothers serving 250 refugees.

• We run a comprehensive psychological support program providing 40 hours a week of counseling.

• We are supporting soldiers in the Odesa region and send them various supplies regularly.

• We are cooperating with the Shapiro Foundation to provide scholarships covering full tuition for 169 Ukrainian students attending 6 Polish universities in Warsaw, Krakow, and Rzeszow.

• We run an intensive art therapy program for mothers and children serving 1300 refugees so far.

• We have hired 40 new staff members: 31 full time and 9 part time, including 28 Ukrainian refugees, to work on our Ukrainian humanitarian response.

PREVIOUS PROGRAMS

• We have sent truckloads of supplies into Ukraine including the Zaporozhye region and together with a partner delivered 30 tons of food and supplies to isolated towns and villages close to the front line with Russia.

• We ran a two month summer camp for 25 kids with language classes, self defense, photography, and computer classes.

• We worked with the Polish government and the Catholic Church to resettle 4 Ukrainian orphanages in the north of Poland.

• We supplied 100 beds and regular food deliveries to Krakow’s Central Train Station in cooperation with Polish Scouts.

• We evacuated over 10,000 refugees from across Ukraine via a transport hub we set up in Lviv.

• We partnered with a local Ukrainian NGO and funded 12 full time psychologists who provided 1,400 hours a month of therapy in 5 locations in Krakow for 4 months.

• We created and ran a mother and child safe space that provided day care for 25 young children, and 20 Polish and English classes a week for their mothers, as well as psychological counseling and job training in a warm, cozy environment.

• We supported an orphanage from Chernihiv with 40 children that we helped relocate to Poland.

• We created a project to support and house vulnerable refugees including LGBTQ+, Roma and individuals with special needs in apartments in Krakow.

• We funded a project providing legal counsel for refugees regarding immigration, labor and housing.

• We partnered with an Israeli NGO and the Jesuit University in Krakow to train 68 local psychologists in trauma care.

• We purchased and delivered battlefield bandages to Winnica hospital, close to the Polish border after the area was bombed.

• We supported the “Closet of Good” distribution center which distributed 400,000 items of clothing to 80,000 refugees.

• We partnered to create the only NGO help station on the Ukrainian side of the Korczowa border crossing, providing food, medical care and sanitary supplies to thousands of refugees..

• We supported a LGBTQ+ friendly hostel that focused on non-white, non Ukrainian refugees from Ukraine.

• We provided emergency transport for 40 Ukrainian children with severe autism to Vienna from across Ukraine.

• We sent 5 tons of food and supplies to Bucha after the Russian retreat.

• We partnered with four local NGOs to run one of Krakow’s central refugee hubs. Staffed by two dozen Ukrainian speakers, it provided logistic and psychosocial support to hundreds of Ukrainians daily, over 30,000 in total.

• We worked with the US based Shapiro Foundation on the US Government’s United for Ukraine Program which allowed refugees to resettle in the US. We housed and supported them as they waited.

• We ran a program to teach Polish to 20 refugee teachers at a Ukrainian school in Krakow.

“Displaced: The Ukrainian Refugee Experience”

A journalist by trade, and former deputy op-ed page editor of the New York Times, Tamar Jacoby, president of Opportunity America, a Washington-based nonprofit, came to Poland in March to volunteer on behalf of Ukraine. Tamar began interviewing and collecting the stories of refugees being helped by JCC Krakow. Jews and non-Jews, young and old, she spoke at length to dozens of Ukrainians about their escapes from Ukraine, experiences in Poland, and hopes for the future.

Tamar spent months on the project and the result is Displaced: The Ukrainian Refugee Experience. The book contains 45 stories of Ukrainian refugees, all of whom were helped by JCC Krakow, with a foreword by JCC CEO Jonathan Ornstein.

Be sure to purchase your copy of Displaced today, available exclusively on Amazon. All proceeds will go directly to support JCC Krakow’s effort to help Ukraine.

Additionally, you can support JCC Krakow while you shop. Go to smile.amazon.com and select Friends of JCC Krakow from the list! It will cost you nothing but every purchase you make will help ensure a Jewish future in Krakow. Be sure to bookmark the page so you are always shopping with us!

Click here to see a list of donors to our Ukraine Crisis Appeal.

Friends of JCC Krakow Fundraising Guidelines: 

Please note that, in strict conformance with IRS guidelines, Friends of JCC Krakow does not accept contributions that are earmarked or required to be distributed to JCC Krakow or any other organization. The Directors of the Friends of JCC Krakow have complete discretion and control over the ultimate disposition of any contributions received by the organization. While donors may suggest that their gifts be used for a specific purpose, these requests are non-binding on the Friends of JCC Krakow. This ensures that gifts made to the Friends of JCC Krakow are tax-deductible and that Friends of JCC Krakow fulfills its duties and obligations as a U.S. tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Code.