Program Stories

Now in his sixties, Yuri seems both older and younger. Living with a disability since birth, Yuri seems like a young child when he speaks. But when he walks, it’s with the body of a weak, elderly man, as he also faces many physical challenges.

In Russian, her name means “hope.” That’s what 84-year-old Nadezhda tells us. Her mother, a doctor in Russia, named her that after losing her first child.

For Ariel and Cynthia, and their sons — Gabriel (14) and Emanuel (10) — Hanukkah is a time of miracles. Because for this Jewish couple from South America, making aliyah (immigrating to Israel) had long been a miracle waiting to happen. But then, right as the family prepared to move to the Holy Land with the help of IFCJ Canada, the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

Oksana worked hard as a single mother to care for her two boys — Nikita (14) and the baby — in the Former Soviet Union. While they didn’t have much money, she still had a decent job and small home that protected her family. Even if the home wasn’t always full of food or new clothing, it was always filled with their mother’s love.

As she prepares to celebrate Hanukkah, Lenina could look back on her hard life. At 84 years of age, she survived not only the Holocaust carried out by the Nazis, but the Soviets’ communist rule, as well. Both of these cruel eras not only took away faith traditions from Jews like Lenina, but took their lives, as well.

Isaak and Isabela, a married couple in their 70s, couldn’t contain their excitement as they packed their bags to make aliyah (immigrate to Israel) with IFCJ Canada. After all, they waited an entire year for this due to the COVID-19 crisis — but, really, they’ve been waiting their entire lives. As a faithful Jewish couple, they’ve always prayed and wished to live in the Holy Land.

As 85-year-old Victor volunteers both at a Fellowship-supported soup kitchen, as well as an interpreter for Israel’s courts, those he helps would never know the hard life this gentle man has faced.

Last Hanukkah was very special for 81-year-old Raisa. It was the first Hannukah the Holocaust survivor had celebrated in Israel!

“In peace I will lie down in sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.” (Psalm 4:8)

Veronica is only in the third grade, but she has already seen what the help of others can do. Her grandmother, Lyudmila, spent her life as a nurse, helping others in their native Ukraine. And because her daughter — Veronica’s mother — is unable to care for her two children, Lyudmila has raised her granddaughters as if they were her own.

Hand in hand with his beloved grandfather Boris, 7-year-old Ilya once skipped through the melting snow on the way to synagogue in Ukraine.

Life has always been hard for 10-year-old Alina and her 6-year-old brother Vladislav, and faith and hope have often been hard to come by. They once lived in a small dirty apartment in eastern Ukraine, an area mired in war and poverty.