· When there is no one to call what do you do if you fall seriously ill?
· How do you buy medicines if you pension is 200 euro/per month and barely covers heating, hot water and staple food?
· Who will look after you if you are blind and alone coming home from the hospital?
· Who will arrange funeral and say Kaddish for me when I leave this world?
Thankfully most of us will never have to answer these questions.
Ezra Riga is a unique charity specializing in helping lonely elderly and disabled Jews in the hardest moments of their lives. Set up in by a small group of local volunteers in 2006 it has for the last 13 years provided much needed help and services to the needy and poor elderly Jews of Riga.
What we do?
Viktor, our ward since 2012 after serious illness and leg’s amputation.
Not burdened by bureaucracy and cumbersome administrative process we often serve as an emergency response providing help before other Jewish or government organizations can step in. Whether paying for an urgent cancer operation, buying expensive medicines or providing temporary accommodation for a needy Jewish person, Ezra Riga helps in situations when there is no other organization to turn to. Over the years our team has helped hundreds of Jewish people to live out their lives with as much dignity as possible- and to be buried according to the Jewish law.
How it works?
Fully run by volunteers Ezra Riga has no administrative or management expenses, 100% of our budget is spend on those that need help most. Unfortunately now we have come to a situation when we can no longer raise all the required funds locally.
Please help us raise a one third of year budget – 24 thousand dollars for whole coming year to cover shortfall to allow us to continue our work.
How we are going to use your funds?
Medical assistance at home, help with hospitalization, and rehabilitation after surgeries for Jews who couldn’t afford otherwise.
Nursing and hot kosher meals for people suddenly unable to look after themselves.
If a person suddenly loses an ability to take care of himself due to illness, he or she needs to collect a set documents in order to apply and become eligible for the help from the social service. After that in the best case they will visit in two weeks. For a helpless person these two weeks can be very difficult. In such cases we intervene quickly and provide comprehensive assistance until these people recover or until social services become involved.
Shelter and home for elderly people.
Our perhaps most important activity is providing free of charge accommodation and meals for a number of vulnerable elderly and handicapped members of the Jewish community. People who come to us can’t live independently due of serious health problems or would be homeless. They get not just a roof over their head in our community centre, they get an opportunity to escape their problems and to meet other Jews.
One of our shelter residents – Yevgeniya, 82. y.o., worked as a teacher for over 40 years.
Jewish holiday and Celebration, Torah lessons.
Our community center is also a meeting place to celebrate Shabbats and Jewish holidays. Twice a week we have Torah lessons about the weekly Torah for the people of different ages.
Funeral service
When somebody from our community leaves this world we collect money and organize funerals according to the Jewish tradition. The cost of the funeral is about 1000 euro. We also take care of their graves.
Our support for elderly people is not just about money , but it is impossible to help them without it. We have a very small budget and in the last year we had to turn away many of those that came to us for help. Please help us to support those in need !
