2022 was a year filled with hope, recovery and challenges. However, no one could have predicted that COVID-19 cases would continue to soar, mental health concerns would grow, we’d be combating antisemitism in our own community and Russia would invade Ukraine.
Through our collective network of agencies, overseas partners and community organizations, we worked tirelessly to help many in our community, locally and globally, overcome their struggles.
Here are a few highlights from the past year:
SUPPORTING UKRAINE
We created the Ukrainian Emergency Fund, raising more than $2 million from our generous community. These funds helped support on-the-ground work of our global partners, including the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency for Israel. Through their networks, we distributed food, medicine and more for women, children, Holocaust survivors and homebound seniors. Together, we also helped provide safe passage to the border for fleeing families and assistance to refugees who made aliyah. At the same time, the friendships created through our Baltimore-Odesa Partnership — now 30 years strong — brought hope to the many Odesa residents living through these unsettled times. We communicated daily with messages of caring and concern while providing direct aid to local organizations that offered trauma-focused therapy, medical support and resources for young adults so they could continue to find beauty in Jewish life.
