Two Maryland Jewish community social service organizations are slated to receive parts of a $720 million grant for Holocaust survivors from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, or Claims Conference, the organization announced this week.
JSSA in Rockville and Jewish Community Services in Baltimore are among the 300 social-welfare organizations to receive the funding, according to the Claims Conference, which negotiates for and disburses funds to individuals and organizations and seeks the return of Jewish property stolen during the Holocaust.
JSSA was awarded $6.2 million.
The funding “ensures the frail survivors in JSSA’s care receive the comprehensive support services they need to continue living at home with the utmost dignity and respect to avoid institutionalization,” said Deborah Adler, manager of JSSA’s Holocaust survivors program, which provides “a range of services for our neighbors who survived the Holocaust and need support to live independently,” according to the agency’s website.
Jewish Community Services, which received $5.8 million, also focuses on assisting Holocaust survivors in living independently.
“This [donation] enables our survivors to [live] with dignity, something they were deprived of earlier in their lives,” said Joan Grayson Cohen, the agency’s executive director.
Said Gideon Taylor, president of the Claims Conference, “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.”
