When I first traveled to Ukraine this year, I was struck by the great needs, and how vulnerable the Jewish communities we support there are.

It is heartbreaking to hear how God’s people endure this hostility. Jews in Europe, India, Latin America and Arab lands struggle daily against open and life-threatening hatred from their neighbours, coworkers, and even law enforcement officials.

I recently traveled back to Ukraine to send a message of support and love. While I was heartened by what we have done, I was deeply troubled by the worsening situation. Food costs in Ukraine are skyrocketing. The cost of medicine is up 70 percent. Those who were already struggling to survive are now in real peril, and there is also a very real, very frightening sense of anti-Semitic hatred and danger.

Because parents fear for their children’s safety, only 40 percent of schoolchildren have been attending the Jewish schools in the area in recent months. Elderly Jews who went through the Holocaust are concerned about the acts of vandalism at synagogues and the attacks on people going into them. People are staying in their homes, even afraid to go to the supermarket.

Thanks to the generosity of friends like you who give sacrificially, The Fellowship has already given so much to help with humanitarian programs and food needs, mainly for the homebound elderly and children. But the situation is desperate – and promises to grow even worse – and we need to do more.

Today, I hope you will give to help the embattled Jewish community of Ukraine. With your support, we can provide much needed food, education, medical help, and clothing assistance, to those in dire need – and send them the message that there are caring people in Canada like you, standing with them. This aid means so much to Ukrainian Jews in this time of crisis.