c december 29, 2010 hamodia connect2 provides … · is lack of funds,”says director chaim...

22 TEVES 5771 Community DECEMBER 29, 2010 HAMODIAC36

By Aron Greenstein

“Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat,nor gloom of night stays these couriersfrom the swift completion of theirappointed rounds.” This is the motto ofthe postal service. Well, so far thisweek the post office was closed. Sowere banks, buses and trains.

One place that is open is Our Placeand its affiliate, Yeshiva SimchasChaim. The staff walked for miles justfor the teens who frequent the center.“The only thing that can make us closeis lack of funds,” says director ChaimGlancz.

Our Place NY is a teen drop-in-cen-ter for the hundreds of at-risk youth inour community, people who strugglewith all sorts of issues, ranging fromdropping out of school to dealing withaddiction. The staff takes very serious-ly the attitude, “no Jewish kid leftbehind.” They deal with the kids thatfew others in the frum communityhave the resources to handle.

We just experienced the sixth-largest blizzard in the history of New

York. Cars are stuck on the road andit’s almost impossible to get around.Yet the Our Place staff refuses toclose, for even one night. SonyPerlman, the program director, says,“Just like Hatzolah can’t [close], nei-ther can we.” He claims that Our Placesaves lives and there is no break fromsaving lives.

If you think that on nights like theseOur Place would be empty, you wouldbe very wrong. On Monday night, over30 young men were there. Not one ofthem even considered the possibilitythat Our Place would be closed.

Meanwhile, for the past severalmonths, Our Place has been teeteringon the brink of extinction. They lostthe government grant that allows themto keep going. They have been reach-ing out to the community to help coverthe deficit, but are coming up short.

As this week shows, Our Place hasproven itself time and again. Beingthere for our kids following theBlizzard of 2010 is even more proof ofwhy Our Place needs — deserves — tostay open.

‘Our Place’ Stays Open

Despite Blizzard

By Boruch Shubert

At age twenty-four, Daniel Brody cer-tainly had enough responsibilities to keephimself busy. A member of the UpperWest Side Orthodox Jewish community,he had recently graduated law school andstarted working as an attorney. Butdespite the demands of his career, Danielfelt a strong urge to seek out a volunteeropportunity and help someone in need.

Daniel learned about the Connect2program of the Jewish CommunityCouncil of Greater Coney Island (JCCG-CI), multipurpose social service agency.The program pairs volunteer visitors withelderly Holocaust survivors who are oftenalone at home. Daniel soon found that hewas doing much more than a good deed;his weekly visits became a truly reward-ing experience that enabled him to form aspecial bond with someone who embod-ied perseverance and triumph over evil.

“The man I visit in Boro Park, JosephSkakun, had a fascinating life during theHolocaust,” Daniel related. “When he wasstill a teenager, the Nazis invaded hishometown in Europe and killed all of theJews living there, including his family.Joseph escaped the massacre and wasable to survive the war years by posing asa German. Joseph lived in Israel for manyyears, ran his own business, and raised afamily. It’s amazing how he transformedhis personal situation and displays such apositive attitude.”

During his visits, Daniel converses atlength with his senior friend. “Joseph willtalk to me about his wife’s illness, my workas a lawyer … he even tells me interestingTorah thoughts. I feel that he has becomea valuable part of my life. It means a lot tohave a relationship with someone who wasable to survive such difficulty.”

Connect2 was established in 2001 toaddress the social isolation faced byHolocaust survivors who are strugglingwith the afflictions of advanced age. Theprogram has provided over 10,000 friendlyvisits by volunteers of all ages to morethan 600 survivors living in Brooklyn andManhattan, fostering relationships thatbenefit both parties. Each volunteer ismatched by the program’s director,

Elisheva Lock, with a survivor, based oncompatible personalities and interests.

Connect2 is funded under a specialgrant from the Conference on JewishMaterial Claims Against Germany and hasalso received support from the Max andVictoria Dreyfus Foundation, the LeaderFamily Fund, and the Abraham andEsther Hersh Foundation. The programfocuses on maintaining a strong ongoingconnection with its senior clientele, usinga corps of social work interns from recog-nized universities who visit a select groupof clients periodically, assess their physi-cal and emotional well-being, and providecounseling as needed. Connect2 is super-vised by a professor of social work toassure that it meets the highest standardsof quality.

Connect2’s friendly visitors are carefulto take notice of their clients’ unmet per-sonal needs, subsequently referring themto social workers who can assist withappropriate referrals, intervention andcounseling. The program also celebratessurvivor’s birthdays and arranges festiveholiday parties for the volunteers andclients.

As a program of the JCCGCI, Connect2is able to offer clients an array of support-ive services, including home care, trans-portation to medical and other essentialappointments, home-delivered meals,case management, and other serviceswhich promote their independence withdignity.

“Under the devoted leadership ofElisheva Lock, Connect2 continues toattract volunteers seeking a personalexperience that will leave them immea-surably gratified for years to come,”states Rabbi Moshe Wiener, executivedirector of JCCGCI. “We are thankful tothe many individuals whose compassion-ate efforts have helped us give Holocaustsurvivors the comfort they deserve intheir later years.”

“Based on my experience as a volun-teer with Connect2,” says Daniel Brody, “Iwould recommend that anyone who cando so should regularly visit a Holocaustsurvivor.”

For more information, call 718-449-5000 ext 2216.

Connect2 Provides Visitors for

Holocaust Survivors