WJCS Among Those Receiving Grants from Claims Conference to Support Holocaust Survivors
Gideon Taylor, President of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), announced the allocation of $720 million USD in funds to more than 300 social welfare organizations globally to support home care and supportive services for frail and vulnerable Holocaust survivors.
Gideon Taylor, President of the Claims Conference, said, “We are proud to announce this significant allocation at a time when these funds are critical, due to the age, poverty and increasing disability of our waning survivor population, and as they also continue to face the ongoing uncertainty and threat of COVID-19. We know these funds provide vital support during these difficult times.”
In recent years, during negotiations with the German government, the Claims Conference pressed the urgent need to increase home care funding for Holocaust survivors both in the United States and across the globe. The new allocations are distributed to social welfare organizations in regions where significant numbers of survivors live, to ensure vital services, such as home care, medical care, emergency assistance and food are available for Holocaust survivors in those regions. Funds for these vital services provide a critical lifeline to frail, elderly Holocaust survivors in need around the world, enabling them to live out their remaining days in the dignity that was stolen from them in their youth.
Greg Schneider, Claims Conference Executive Vice President, said, “Survivors will be supported wherever they live, whether war-torn areas or conflict zones, and no matter the obstacle. Whether in the face of the ongoing pandemic, issues of inflation, or threat of war, we are committed to providing home care, food and medicine to elderly poor Holocaust survivors. We will continue to fight for more year-after-year to ensure every survivor has the care they deserve.”
These considerable funds constitute one of the largest allocations from any grant-making organization globally in one year and the largest amount ever allocated for Claims Conference in a single year. In 2021, the Claims Conference distributed $653 million USD in grants to over 300 social service agencies worldwide and this year the Claims Conference estimates that the funds, through the grants and partner organizations, will reach approximately 120,000 survivors.
Among the organizations in the United States to receive grants is Westchester Jewish Community Services (WJCS), one of the largest not-for-profit human service agencies in Westchester County. The funds allow WJCS to provide vitally important services to Holocaust survivors in Westchester.
“We are grateful to the Claims Conference for their tireless efforts to obtain these much- needed additional resources,” said WJCS CEO Seth Diamond. “WJCS is honored to serve Holocaust survivors in Westchester, and we know these past two years have been very difficult for survivors. These additional funds will allow us to help make the next years healthier and more meaningful for the survivors we serve.”
Mark Sisisky, President of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), said, “I cannot overstate how critical these lifesaving funds from the Claims Conference are to ensure the well-being of survivors in the former Soviet Union. As we see in Ukraine, and throughout the region, crisis can erupt at a moment’s notice and increase the plight and needs of survivors and other elderly. The services we provide them in partnership with the Claims Conference are a literal lifeline of care, dignity, and hope for better days.”
Representatives from 23 major Jewish organizations founded the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) in 1951 in response to the West German government’s promise to make “material amends” to Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. The Claims Conference represents world Jewry in negotiating for compensation and restitution for Jewish survivors of the Holocaust and their heirs.