Local Community Becomes Her Family and Means of Survival

At 84, Rachella is a tiny, but energetic woman who lives in a two-room apartment at the back of an otherwise abandoned old house in Bacau, Romania. Since her husband passed away a few years ago, Rachella has struggled to get by on the half of her late husband's meager monthly pension. The local Jewish community and JDC are now her only family and her only means of survival.

Though sprightly, Rachella recently had a stroke, and suffers from increasingly failing health as she ages. JDC-supported cash assistance enables her to live modestly and with dignity. JDC also arranged for the local Jewish community to buy her a small refrigerator to keep perishables, including the eggs and cheese that are included in the food packages she now receives. But the regular visits by the community volunteers who deliver the packages are what she treasures most.

"I have dignity and family," she declares proudly. "What else could I ask for?"