Survivor Mitzvah Project

I have been donating to The Survivor Mitzvah Project since it began. I am proud that I can help needy Holocaust survivors of Eastern Europe. The survivors and their families write beautiful letters of thanks. I am also a proofreader of many of these touching letters. These precious letters will go into the Holocaust Museum of the United States. Knowing I can donate money and do this proofreading work helps me know that I do what I can to fight antisemitism. It is a daily mitzvah that I am proud of. The pride I feel from this experience brings me joy and comfort.

I learned about this truly wonderful organization nearly 10 years ago and have been a donor since then. I was well aware of the millions who perished in the Holocaust, including family members. I also was knowledgeable about those who managed to escape Nazi Germany, or survived and emigrated to Israel, the US and other countries around the world. What I did not know, and came to learn about through my association with the Survivor Mitzvah Project, are that there are still many elderly Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust who remain scattered throughout Eastern Europe today. Founder/ED, Zane Buzby, and her dedicated staff, here in the United States and on the ground in Eastern Europe, provide direct financial aid to women and men, now mostly in their 80s and 90s. They are sick, impoverished, isolated and receive no direct financial aid from any other agency. They struggle to survive in their few remaining years, lacking the means to buy even the most basic of human necessities: food, medicine, heat and shelter. I know that through SMP, critical aid gets to these survivors quickly and efficiently, helping to ensure that they may live out their last years with some measure of comfort, support and dignity.

This amazing organization gives 100% of your donation to a Holocaust survivor needing food and medicine. They care for survivors in 9 countries including those suffering during the war in Ukraine. When you donate the organization sends you a beautiful letter of acknowledgment with the name of the survivor who received your donation! Also, they do tributes for special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, new babies, etc. It's a very meaningful way to send a gift to someone special. Highly recommend this charity because you know where your money is going.

Whenever I need to send a birthday, graduation, thank you, holiday gift, or condolence card, I always donate to the Survivor Mitzvah Project in honor of the person I am gifting. The recipient gets a beautiful acknowledgement letter telling them about the project, naming the survivors that are being helped by my donation I made in their honor or in memory of a loved one.

I always do a lot of research on the charities I support and this one has minimal overhead costs all covered by their Board of Directors or small foundations. That means every dollar I donate gets sent directly to a Holocaust survivor.
Please visit their website and I’m sure you will want to help this amazing organization.

I wanted to find a reputable organization to help the elderly in war-torn Ukraine, especially if there were Holocaust survivors there in need. I found The Survivor Mitzvah Project online and noticed it has received several awards by reputable organizations such CNN (they received the CNN Hero Award!) and an award from the Anti-Defamation League. I also watched their phenomenal videos of survivors testimonies.
I was immediately sure this was where I wanted to donate and have been donating monthly ever since. Donating online is easy but you can also call and donate and get a chance to speak to very knowledgeable and compassionate people there who will give you an update on their efforts during the war. They also help Holocaust survivors in other countries which is truly amazing.

For my Bat Mitzvah I wanted to do a special project to help survivors of the Holocaust. My teacher recommended The Survivor Mitzvah Project. They are great. They gave me a lot of info. I could download content about survivors and include it with my invitations. This was great! And they gave me the name of a survivor the donations from my family and friends would be supporting. They even let me write a letter to her and she wrote back! She’s 96 years old and lives in Ukraine. This project really made a difference in my life. I feel I am doing my pair in “repairing the world.”

This war in Ukraine has been such a tragedy in my community. I wanted to help in the best way possible. I learned about this non-profit's effort to support Holocaust survivors in Ukraine through friends and knew I needed to help immediately. Many community members have joined me in supporting many survivors in Ukraine. They also help Holocaust survivors in 8 other countries.

I was looking for a charity to donate to help Holocaust survivors and found The Survivor Mitzvah Project. I signed up to make an automatic monthly donation when I looked at the videos they posted on the home page of their website. You can see their staff personally distributing donations to thankful survivors in many different countries like Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, Ukraine, etc I called them to make sure my donation was split between survivors in Belarus (where my grandmother was born), and to Ukraine which is suffering from the Russian bombings. They were happy to honor my request and I got to speak with a very dedicated person at their office who told me more about the project. I got my whole family involved and now we donate monthly.

I saw a series of great posts on Instagram about this charity and immediately wanted to help. They have a really great track record and a high rating, so I am very happy to keep donating to this worthy cause.

I have been donating to The Survivor Mitzvah Project for over 10 years. It is truly a wonderful organization that has helped thousands of Holocaust survivors who need food, medicine, heat for the winter months and even shelter if they do not have a safe place to live. Every month I get a report from the organization highlighting different survivors and telling their Holocaust experiences. Their website has lots of video and photos of the survivors they help. I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of this lifesaving effort!

I just appreciate this organization so much. As a not-so-tech-savvy person, donating over the phone to The Survivor Mitzvah Project has been a wonderful experience. Their small team is so caring and passionate about their work. And with every donation, I get to learn which survivor I am helping in Ukraine, and it just warms my heart to know that every dollar sent is improving their lives in every way possible.

I appreciate small non-profits like The Survivor Mitzvah Project. I found them through CNN at the start if the war in Ukraine. I desperately wanted to help those suffering the tragedy of war there but was wary of a lot of charities because I wasn’t sure that my money would help those I intended to help. When I saw the interview on CNN and checked out The Survivor Mitzvah project online, I immediately saw that 100% of my donation would go to a Holocaust survivor in Ukraine. I immediately donated and have contributed monthly to help their efforts in there. I got a notice from the organization telling me the names of the Holocaust survivors who received my gift, and that touched my heart. I think everyone should check out this charity and donate, especially because they deliver money directly to the survivors there who are in need of food and medicine.

I saw a news report on The View during Holocaust Remembrance week and was very moved by their work. They are truly making a difference in this world. By guaranteeing that 100% of my donation will help a Holocaust survivor in Eastern Europe, I know every dollar I donate goes exactly where I want it to go!

I first met Zane Buzby in 1984 when she was a director for the television game show "Guilty or Innocent". It was a BLAST to work with her on the series.

I have donated to The Survivor Mitzvah Project ever since I found out Zane was the founder and head of this nonprofit. Her concerns for the survivors is incredibly sincere and heart warming. God's richest blessings to her, the survivors and all of the other caring people who donate to this GREAT organization!!!

Warm Regards, Tim Werner
Broadcast Television Video Finishing Editor & Colourist
A member of "The Television Academy"
Television Motion Picture Editors Peer Group

I was well aware of the millions who perished in the Holocaust, and of those who were able to escape Nazi Germany, or survived and emigrated to Israel, the US and other countries around the world. What I had no knowledge of, and came to learn about when I briefly had the opportunity to work with this amazing organization, are the many elderly and forgotten Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust who remain scattered throughout Eastern Europe today. I have been a donor to SMP for over five years now. Zane Buzby and her dedicated staff, here and on the ground in Eastern Europe, provide direct financial aid to women and men, now mostly in their 80s and 90s. They are sick, impoverished, isolated and receive no direct financial aid from any other agency. They struggle to survive in their few remaining years, lacking the means to buy even the most basic of human necessities: food, medicine, heat and shelter. I know that through SMP, critical aid gets to these survivors quickly and efficiently, helping to ensure that they may live out their last years with some measure of comfort, support and dignity.

I became aware of the work Survivor Mitzvah Project does through a friend of mine. I was invited to a presentation at a local temple. There was a screening of a beautiful video they made called The Last Survivors. It was a moving story of some of the people they help told in photos and letters, read by well known actors. It was very powerful.

I liked hearing about the work they do to help these aging survivors of a tragedy from so long ago. I made a donation that night, and continue to support them on a regular basis. I'm not a big donor, but I believe every dollar I give is important to helping their mission and the people they serve.

I like the newsletter emails that I get occasionally, with updates on their work and the people they help. I also shop at AmazonSmile when I can so they get a small donation every time I shop on-line. I am happy to support The Survivor Mitzvah Project, going on four years now, and will continue to do so.

I also find their video archive of personal histories so important.

Noel O - Portland, OR

I have been donating to Survivor Mitzvah Project (SMP) for many years. SMP is a charity that truly cares about the people they are helping. The founder meets with the beneficiaries which is how she knows exactly what they need.

I donate regularly to SMP. It is a wonderful organization that puts cash directly into the hands of elderly Holocaust survivors living in poverty to fulfill some of their most basic needs. Not only does it make a tremendous material impact on their lives, but it also lets them know that after all they have suffered they are not forgotten. Equally important is SMP's work documenting the oral histories of this generation.

TO: To whom it may concern

FROM: Carl Davis, CK Davis Financial, LLC
RE: The Survivor Mitzvah Project

Fri, Sep 24, 10:20 AM (4 days ago)

I am a Retirement Specialist located in Iowa but have Clients all around the United States. In my travels I have come across some very interesting individuals but the ones that stand out the most were those individuals I met that were actually in concentration camps during their youth, in Germany during World War II.

The first time I ever met someone who had suffered through the concentration camps in Germany was an upholsterer in Kansas City. He had been asked to come to our home to work on a piece of furniture. When I met him I noticed his tattoo and I asked him about it and he explained to me how that came to be, keeping in mind I was a young lad at that time, so he spared me the gory details.

One of my favorite individuals I met who bare a similar tattoo and obviously suffered in the concentration camps during the War, was a new Client I met in California in 2011 working in my profession. This gentleman was a very kind man and as a new Client I was fortunate to be able to visit with him on several occasions. We spoke many times about some of the details that he endured. I think people who went through that horrific ordeal would rather not conjure up that emotion again. Nevertheless, I could feel some of his angst and understood why he held some of the details back. He was always kind, polite and a real blessing to have known. I took him to breakfast in early 2020 just before Covid-19 hit the U.S. and thoroughly enjoyed what would be the last time I would get to spend with him in person. He passed in September of 2021.

We are losing nearly all of our fellow Americans who had anything to do with the concentration camps in Germany during World War II and that saddens me as they were a very special people. They were some of the kindest humans you could ever imagine meeting and I know I have learned a great deal from the little time I spent with just one of them.

The Survivor Mitzvah Project works to help Holocaust survivors and others in need. This organization seems to have little overhead and is ethically commit to provide a very helpful service.
As is stated on the website: 100% of all donations go directly into the hands of a Holocaust Survivor in need. That appears to me to be the case.

I read wonderful things about this charity and am looking forward to making my first donations during the Holidays, instead of gifts. I watched the amazing videos on the website and learned how urgently needed our help is. It broke my heart to know there are elderly survivors of the Holocaust who do not have enough food (over 70% of them), and all need medicine. I can't imagine living in such a cold climate without heat. With 100% of my donation going directly to the cause, and so many awards including the CNN HERO AWARD and the ADL AWARD, I know my donations will go a long way to relieving suffering. And that's the only kind of charity I wish to support.

Survivor Mitzvah Project plays such an important role in helping Holocaust survivors as well as documenting such important stories, biographies, memoirs and the living history and legacy of Jewish people in Eastern Europe for future generations. I volunteered to translate from Russian to English and it was an honour to help record the survivors' voices, to gain an insight into their lives both past and present. Not only was I a part of this fantastic project but was given detailed advice and friendly support throughout the translation process. If I again have the free time to help this wonderful project, I would do so without hesitation and with great pleasure. Keep up the great work you are doing in making such a difference in people's lives!

I have been donating to this worthy cause ever since its amazing founder, Zane Buzby, made her first trip to Eastern Europe in 2001 and discovered the appalling living situations of the Holocaust survivors. Other charities offer no aid at all because these people were not in concentration camps. Nevertheless, their families were murdered, their homes destroyed and their health negatively affected for the rest of their lives. The Survivors are some of the most wonderful people I have ever had contact with (through letters). They are so grateful for the help and even more for the knowledge that they have not been forgotten. There is nothing we can do to change the horrific past, but we can do something now. I encourage everyone who is looking for an opportunity to heal the world to donate to The Survivor Mitzvah Project.

I had been looking for a really good charity that helps Holocaust survivors who really need our donations. I saw a video that had Ed Asner and Valerie Harper reading letters of thanks to the charity. I was very moved and have been donating ever since. This charity deserves the highest rating possible.

I have been volunteering for this charity for over a year now. I am so blown away by the amazing work that they do. Zane and her group of wonderful women are making such a difference in the lives of those who suffered greatly due to the Holocaust. The survivors they help are desperately in need and so very grateful for the help, love, and support. I am so lucky to have found SMP and look forward to volunteering for many years to come.

I've worked with this charity for over a decade now, and I can personally attest to the fact that it's life changing. I've seen first hand the impact of the funds being used to truly alleviate people's suffering. More importantly, I've seen up close the office and charity infrastructure and it's bare bones in the best way e.g. as much funding as possible goes to the people in need and not the folks running it. It's a worthy and well run cause.

This nonprofit keeps hundreds of Holocaust survivors alive in Eastern Europe. They live in countries where there is little government support. Most live in extreme poverty. Founder Zane Buzby travels to these countries and visits the survivors personally. She brings medicine, eyeglasses, cash, and most of all her love and support. There is very little overhead for this nonprofit so almost all of your contributions go directly to the survivors. In terms of bang for your buck, it’s hard to imagine a better humanitarian investment than Survivor Mitzvah Project.

A wonderful and gracious Charity that delivers direct aid to elderly Holocaust survivors in Eastern Europe. To my knowledge they are the only organization to do so. 100% of the profits go towards survivors making any donation create a real difference in this world.

Awesome charity that cares for the forgotten Holocaust survivors of Eastern Europe. Unlike most charities, 100% of the money raised goes to those in need. Please help these strong but neglected survivors! A++++

Survivor Mitzvah is going into the area’s hardest hit by anti-Semitic persecution & the Holocaust where their was no-aid for decades & they are helping folks that were often overlooked by other folks !