Palm Beach Community Steps Up to Help Ukrainians

By Timothy Bolger

2 minute 03/17/2022

People queue for shelter as they wait for transport after fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at the border checkpoint in Medyka, Poland, March 11, 2022. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

Members of the Palm Beach community are stepping up to help support the citizens of Ukraine following the Russian invasion that marked the biggest attack on a European nation since World War II.

In addition to widespread fundraising and donation drives that aim to send basic necessities to Ukrainians displaced by the conflict, some community leaders have flown to Eastern Europe and others are organizing flights from Poland to Israel for refugees.

“It is a joint project with a synagogue in Toronto,” said Rabbi Michael Resnick of Temple Emanu-El of Palm Beach.

Russian troops entered Ukraine on Februry 24 under pretenses widely viewed as dubious — such as Russian President Vladimir Putin claiming the invasion was necessary to oppose the supposed rise of neo-Nazis under Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a Jewish descendant of Holocaust survivors.

The temple isn’t the only one stepping up beyond shipping donations. Members of the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County reportedly flew to Warsaw, Poland to see how they can help refugees.

“They are so scared and we want to let them know that we stand in solidarity with them and our North American Jewish community, our Palm Beach Jewish community is there to support them,” Michael Hoffman, the group’s president and CEO, told WPTV-TV. “We don’t know what is going to come next for them and it is our obligation to provide as much support as possible.”