Formation | 1993 |
---|---|
Founder | Amos Avgar |
Type | Charity |
Location |
Hesed is a network of nonprofit community welfare centers to serve the Jewish community in former Soviet Union states (FSU's). [1] [2] The network provides services to Jews who remained in post-Soviet states after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. [3] [4] [5] Hesed uses its volunteers and charity centers to provide basic necessities and medical services within a physical location in which community members can meet and participate in cultural and religious activities. [6] [7] [8]
The first Hesed center opened in 1993 in St. Petersburg. [9] The organization was formed by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) [10] [11] [12] and funded by JDC, International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), World Jewish Relief, and other donors. [3] Hesed based its structure and activities on a model developed by Amos Avgar, who was Director of the JDC-FSU Welfare Department. [13] Volunteering, fostering community and Jewish traditions or Yiddishkeit were central to the model. [8] As of 2003, there were 174 Hesed centers operating in 2,800 Jewish communities [5] and serving over a quarter-million people in the FSU. [7] Hesed continued to operate through the war between Russian and the Ukraine in Crimea and the Donbas starting in 2014. [14] [2] During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hesed continued providing services [15] to its approximately 37,000 Ukrainian clients. [16] The organization also offered psychological counseling and operated a hotline for those needing assistance and treatment during the hostilities. [15]
In addition to activities in the Hesed centers, volunteers visit the homebound. [17] Hesed's services included food programs and packages, [4] meals-on-wheels, soup kitchens, winter relief, homecare, providing medicine, medical equipment [7] and medical services. [3] [8]
Social and community services include day centers, library services, and Jewish holiday celebrations. [4] [8]
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