Brooklyn, NY – Helen Berkovitz comes to remember.
“I was 14 when I was in the concentration camps, in Auschwitz,” she said. “I lost my whole family there. I was the only family member left.
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“Now we are alone, so we talk to each other,” said Berkovitz, 79, who gathers each month with 50 other Holocaust survivors in Flatbush. “You get together with other people so you can remember things. Sometimes you cry. Sometimes you laugh.”
But the gatherings that mean so much to Berkovitz and the other survivors could be in danger.
Selfhelp Community Services, which hosts four Coffee Houses at the Flatbush Jewish Center every month, lost $700,000 in city funding this year. Private fund-raising has also taken a hit.
Each coffee house costs about $3,000 per event, including the cost of lunch and car service transportation for the elderly attendees, many of whom are too frail to leave the house on their own.
“The intent is to recreate the atmosphere of a coffee house they might have gone to back in Europe before the war,” said Selfhelp Vice President Elihu Kover of the 15-year-old program. “It takes them out of their daily existence, which might be one of physical pain and emotional stress.”
Malka Zaajc comes to forget.
“I’m always thinking about my parents and family,” said Zaajc, 83, who lost her family at Auschwitz and was badly beaten for stealing a single potato.
At the Coffee Houses, where a singer croons favorites in English, Yiddish and Polish as elderly couples rise to dance, “I can forget what happened to me,” Zaajc said.
Nine smaller monthly coffee houses held around the city have already gotten the ax.
“For the first time in 72 years, Selfhelp made the decision to close programs that were serving Nazi victims,” said Board of Directors Secretary Dennis Baum.
“Some of our other services such as home care or case management which are essential … would naturally have to take priority over a more social program,” said Baum. “If funding is reduced [further], [Coffee House] is a program we would have to look to reduce.”
But the group will try to save the program. It has launched Project Legacy, an effort to raise $1 million a year by appealing to the children and grandchildren of survivors.
“I lost my parents, two brothers. They burned them the same day that we got to Auschwitz,” said Rebecca Fried, 79, of Borough Park. “I’m by myself.”
But at the Coffee House, “I have friends,” she said.
“She’s my friend, she’s my friend, she’s my friend,” said Fried, beckoning to the women, mostly widows, sharing plates of chicken at the Flatbush center. “We all went through the same thing.”
Berkovitz, blind and sick with cancer and diabetes, seldom gets out of her home. For her and the others, the Coffee House is a lifeline. “We’re already waiting for next month,” she said.
While I believe these events are very important for the survivors, but now that the city axed the funding, maybe the organization can find away doing it for less, I think 50 people $3000 is quiet alot of money especially when there IS NO MONEY, isnt it possible to have this get together for less then $3000? so it CAN CONTINUE.
My lunch a day can cost lets say max $8.00 if you buy bulk for 50 people you should get it for lets say $7.00 now 50 times 70 equals $350.00 add additional $100.00 for drinks / helper equals $400.
Now transportation you rent a bus or even a nice coach bus to bring them to the event in luxury equals lets say $500 max now total $900 – want to add a bit more add another $300 for odds and ends now it totals $1200 – so how in the world does it add up to $3000 per event? now perhaps if it would cost less the city wouldnt ax it from the budget, I mean you gotta make do with what you have, I am curious who runs this program, and how such a event adds up to $3000.
This is truly heartbreaking, these people deffinetly suffered enough, this cut is probably dou to the overall failling economy, however truth be told. A lot of these funds like the Germen funded Gutmachen money never got to those victims meant to receive them!!! We all remember the scandals 2 years ago. How people could be so greedy & steal from these survivors is beyond me… Not to mention the chillul hashem
ditto, we are in economic pain, how about the breadearner who just lost a job or real estate agent who can make a sale,like # 2 said i would donate the $8 for a meal
I’m from out-of-town, but not too far. our local Bikur Cholim hosts twice weekly lunch and get togethers for the senior women. The transportation is provided by local Bikur Cholim volunteers and the lunch is cheaper than chicken, bagels and such paid for by Bikur Cholim–not that expensive, and some of the seniors make donations to Bikur Cholim in return. Don’t eliminate the program in Brooklyn. Think of alternatives.
I like the concept of the local Jewish organizations getting together to keep these gatherings going. After all, those meetings/luncheons may be the only social contact these people have. And $3,000 per event? No, no, no – someone’s pocket is getting filled with gelt they didn’t earn! Yes, the economy and stock market aren’t doing well – for the moment, but, surely we can put something together for these people. We must never forget.