August 25, 2009 / 5 Elul 5769

Ivgeny Bistritzky, a 71 year old Holocaust survivor who survived Babi Yar as a three year old, made aliyah to Israel in the 1990’s and for the past 8 months was homeless and slept on a park bench in Tel Aviv.

After his story was published in Ha’aretz, the Jewish Agency immediately reached out to assist him – Yuval Frenkel, the Director General of Amigour cut through a lot of red tape and within days, got approval from the government to house him in the Beit Hashalom Amigour housing facility in Tel Aviv.

Additionally, he was already contacted by the “Forever” program of the Jewish Agency and the Ministry of pensioner affairs that granted him an emergency grant (from the UJA-Federation of NY grant).

This is a wonderful example of immediate, relevant and much needed assistance that was given in a collaborated manner by two of our programs for the vulnerable elderly olim in Israel.

Following is the link to the story:

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1109104.html