Sacrificing Food or Heat This Winter
Asiya and her husband Alexander, like many elderly in Israel, must choose between food or heating their home during the winter…
Asiya and her 78-year-old husband, Alexander, live on a meager Israeli government pension, just like many other elderly in Israel who must choose between food or heating their homes because they don’t have enough money.
“Unfortunately, heating became an expense we simply could not afford, and so we bundled up to survive the cold winter months,” Asiya explains. But Alexander is very sick and Asiya worries that he might not make it through another cold season in their freezing apartment.
Such suffering seems devastating, especially because Asiya already suffered so much throughout her childhood during World War II.
“My mother and I stood on the station platform for hours, waiting for someone to adopt us. We hugged each other tightly so we would not freeze.”
Word got around that five-year-old Asiya and her mother were Jewish, so no families wanted to host them. Finally, a woman named Anna took them in out of pure pity.
Thankfully, the war ended and Asiya went on to become a university professor in the FSU, while raising a family with Alexander. The couple made aliyah (immigrated to Israel) later in life, fulfilling a lifelong dream, but realized that they would lose their pension from their home country, something Asiya had worked her whole life to earn. But thanks to The Fellowship’s Operation Winter Warmth, we continue to provide heat to struggling elderly like Asiya.
“The Fellowship’s Operation Winter Warmth aid saved my husband’s life this winter. The cold would have destroyed his already ailing health. God bless The Fellowship and the partners who support people like me and Alexander.”
You can be a blessing in the lives of the elderly in Israel this winter season by supporting our Operation Winter Warmth campaign today!
