On February 24th, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine and refugees began spilling across bordering countries. An estimated 200,000 Jews were living in Ukraine, many of whom were trapped in conflict zones in east Ukraine or fled the fighting. Support for the Jewish community was urgently needed. The global Jewish community rallied its resources and came together, drawing from over a century of crisis response experience to aid those Jews who remained in Ukraine, those trying to evacuate, and the thousands of refugees who have now spread across Europe and other countries. The Tidewater Jewish Foundation provided a $25,000 grant to the United Jewish Federation Ukraine Emergency Fund. Nobody anticipated the scale or length of the fighting. In FY2022, Tidewater Jewish Foundation donor advised fund holders granted $540,000 to Ukraine emergency relief, with over $440,000 going directly to the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Ukraine Emergency Fund. The UJFT Fund was created to help with a variety of issues, such as securing the local community and its institutions, maintaining critical welfare services, launching an emergency hotline, securing five Jewish schools, and training staff to manage crisis needs.

The Ukraine Emergency Fund is continuing to provide assistance adressing the challenges of protecting the Jewish community trying to escape the conflict or those sheltering in place.

Our donors also recommended grants to the following organizations: Friends of United Hatzalah • American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee • American National Red Cross • International Fund for Animal Welfare • Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS • Agudath Israel of America