The very beginning of remembering is the train from Belgium to France. When they took us to
the camps de Gurs camp. I remember the wire fences. I felt at the time we were in that camp,
that it was a stop over before they took us to places like
Auschwitz. But before that could have happened, the underground, the Maquis,
came and took several children out of the camp. We never went back to the camp.
I believe God was there for me. I really do. I think that he was the big event in my life.
But the other reason why I survived, were because so many people were helping.
I heard of MorseLife. Okay? Most people have, but nobody really knows what MorseLife is about.
I can say that I was one of those people. I knew MorseLife, and I knew that they helped
Jewish people, Holocaust survivors, especially. And this I have learned through Jenni Frumer.
NOW initiative was launched at the beginning of 2020,
just before the pandemic. And it was launched because there was a demographic study
that informed the community that there are around 5,000 to 8,000 Holocaust survivors
in our community. And that 42% of them live in poverty. And so then now, for Holocaust survivors
initiative is really an important program that can offer expanded and additional services
to Holocaust survivors and their family members. from assistance in home, helping with bathing,
helping with escort services to like doctors appointments, medical appointments,
providing all of these services As part of the NOW initiative are really critical to aging survivors.
For many, many years, Holocaust survivors have sort of lived in the shadows and wait almost
till the last minute to ask for help. And so, we've really had to do significant outreach in
the community to let Holocaust survivors know that we're here, and we're here to help them.
Obviously, we had a pandemic. And during that pandemic it was very difficult because we
couldn't do in-person programming. So we looked at to find survivors in very creative ways.
One thing we did was put ads in the newspaper, to try to find survivors that were in need of
maybe a holiday meal or a holiday package. And so we were able to get phone calls of new survivors
that were in need through that, you know, more creative way, which was very successful.
Another thing we did was Zoom gatherings. Not with survivors, 'cause as we know that cohort
isn't so tech savvy, but with just members of the community who know survivors.
So if they were able to spread the word and we were able to find survivors that way. And
in light of the world, that's opened up a bit, we're able to provide in-person programming.
And we have luncheons and holiday programs for survivors for them to get together.
Many survivors have reached out to me in the last week or two, just, you know,
to tell me how traumatized they really are, and how it's bringing up so many memories for them.
Of many of the triggers they experienced in the Holocaust, especially the images of TV of the men
staying to fight the war, and the women and the children trying to escape and running away, and
trying to fight food and clothing. And you know, only having one bag, you know? These images bring
back so much trauma for survivors. They're telling me that they can't watch the TV, and they feel
just as helpless. And that makes them feel even worse, 'cause we think about how helpless we feel,
but they actually experienced a trauma similar. And they can't do anything about it. So they're
just so distraught. That's another reason why I think it's so important to get them together,
because they need to talk to each other about this. Because they are having such a hard time
processing it, and it's bringing up the trauma for them all over again.
When we talk about the Holocaust, and we talk about genocide,
and we talk about what happened under the Nazi regime, we really talking about malignant
trauma. And that is the kind of trauma that one really never gets over. Generally speaking,
Holocaust survivors are afraid of bureaucracy. They're afraid of institutions. They're afraid
of having their name on any kind of a list. But when we can create trauma informed care,
then survivors are more willing to trust us and come forward for help.
There are some basic principles about trauma informed care,
such as creating a safe environment, making sure that there are ways through behaviors
that we can create a sense of trustworthiness and deep respect. A real deep sense of trying
to understand the individual in their own environment, and what kind of historic
or historical persecution they may have experienced.
The NOW initiative is special, because not only we are providing services,
but we also are providing educational lessons in the schools by teaching the concept of civility.
Or teaching someone to be an upstander versus a bystander. Mitigate bigotry and hatred. In
December, we merged with Next Generations, which has helped us develop the educational
component which is so important with this initiative. Because as you and I know,
when you talk to any Holocaust survivor, they wanna make sure that you never forget. And that
goes along with the next generation, that people who will be continuing to help these individuals.
There are so many survivors who have truly left a mark on my life. And for whom I will forever
be grateful. There's stories, while really sad, and so deeply traumatized, are so inspirational.
Marie was a child during the Holocaust. She connected with the NOW for Holocaust Survivors
Initiative, because she really needed help. She had lost her son a couple of months before,
and she was living in an apartment with a not so nice landlord. And so the NOW initiative
was able to help her with that. But not only just give her the money, we actually helped by
finding a realtor who works in the community in which she lives, who showed her around.
And because of Palm Beach being so high in terms of rentals, we also provide her some subsistence
every month, so that she can sleep well at night, not worrying about the financial issues.
If it hadn't been for Jenni Frumer, I wouldn't even be here talking to you.
I wouldn't be living in this, what I finally have a home that I can call a home.
I can't explain to people what it is to have a home.
It's not a house, it's a home. What they have done for me, I will never be able to thank till the day
I die. They've done more than I expected. More than I even thought would be possible.
They have given, and given, and given, and I'll be truthful with you,
I have taken. But I'm hoping that in some way I can say, "Thank you. Thank you for my life.
Thank you for giving me more life than the life I have. Or had, because now it's so much better."
I think the only thing that I like to remind people, because I think it's so important,
is that sometimes people say, "You're helping Holocaust survivors, but aren't they all
going to be dead in five years?" No. Child survivors, those who were hidden, and those
who were children during the Holocaust, are only in their seventies and early eighties. And so we
need to be here to help Holocaust survivors and their families for a couple of more decades. Even
though we know that we're losing Holocaust survivors every day, and that they're dying.