The Blue Card, Inc.

This is by far my favorite charity. For those who have suffered during Nazi persecution as well as for more recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union, to have someone actually care for them on a one-to-one basis must rekindle their faith in the goodness of people.

The Blue Card has a very clear mandate- to help destitute Holocaust survivors. Everything that it does, is to make life easier for these fragile people.When sending them a check on their birthday, and getting replies like "no one is alive to remember me" and "The Blue Card is a friend," when sending monthly rent assistance and hearing from them that, thanks to us, they have not be evicted,we know we are helping where needed.

The Blue Card is an organization that supports, financially and otherwise, destitute Holocaust survivors. With minuscule administration expense, covered by bequests and grants, it funnels 100% of contributions into aid to themost severely impoverished, disabled,and mostly family-less elderly survivors. It provides monthly stipends of $100-300, extra monies for the Jewish holidays and the survivor's birthdays, electronic alert gadgets, vitamins, emergency funds for rent, food, hospitalization, dental work, eye care, even hearing problems. It allows these survivors, who have suffered through horrendous conditions and its after-effects, to live the rest of their lives with a measure of comfort and dignity. The Blue Card was founded as a self-help organization in 1934 in Germany as the racial laws took away the livelihood of many Jews and its unusual name stems from the receipt contributors got when they made their modest weekly contributions. It was re-organized in the U.S. in 1939 to help newly arrived refugees from all over Europe, and as the rest of European Jewry was swallowed up by the horrors of the Holocaust, changed its focus to become the only charity in the United States to help those who somehow managed to escape. Today, there are some 120,000 Holocaust survivors alive in America, including the writer of this review (from Czechoslovakia, arrived in America in 1946 as a displaced person)of whom an estimated 30,000 live at or below the poverty line. The Blue Card serves 1,700 of the most destitute, who come to it vetted by their local Social Services. By participating as the only Jewish charity in the 2009 ING New York City Marathon, and planning other future marathons, as well as other outreach, The Blue Card is attempting to create a support community of young Jewish people. Information and contributions through www.bluecardfund.org Add a comment Submit the word you see below: