The children, aged 2-18, were evacuated from Zhitomir, and after an escape that took several hours to the Romanian border, were brought to Israel in a complex operation involving the Friendship Fund.
During their stay at the field center, KKL-JNF provided the children with varied activities, educational content, and tours throughout the country. The KKL-JNF staff made it its mission to make the children's stay at the center a pleasant one, after the children were forced to leave Ukraine due to the war. This week, the children will move to residence in Ashkelon, along with the staff of the Alumim children's home.
Since the beginning of the war, KKL-JNF has used its resources in providing humanitarian aid for the Ukrainian Jewish population, collaborating with other Jewish organizations in purchasing food, medicine and hygiene products, finding residence for refugees, arranging social activities, and taking care of security and logistics.
Recently, KKL-JNF aided in evacuating the residents of a holocaust survivors' nursing home in Kyiv during the bombing of the city. The evacuation process has been complex, due to the poor health of many residents. Under the care of a trained staff, the residents were taken to a safe location.
With the help of its office in the Czech Republic, KKL-JNF provided aid at the Ukraine-Slovakian border by bringing Jewish refugees to safe places. In Hungary, KKL-JNF aided dozens of Jewish families in finding residence in hotels and apartment, and in providing personal humanitarian support, including financial support in organizing a Passover Seder for hundreds of participants. Through the Hungarian branch of the Hashomer Hatzair movement, KKL-JNF purchased generators, tents and additional humanitarian aid passed to the movement's activists throughout the country.
According to KKL-JNF CEO Amnon Ben Ami, "in solidarity with our people who are in danger, and as part of its Zionist mission, KKL-JNF does everything to aid the Jews of Ukraine, the Jewish refugees at the borders, and to their acceptance in Israel. Providing children who had to flee Ukraine with a warm and loving home is a great privilege for us. We will keep providing aid to our diaspora brothers and sisters."
KKL-JNF has been working for decades to strengthen the connection with the Jewish diaspora and to bring Jews to Israel. During the 90s and the 80s, KKL-JNF aided in the integration of Jews from the Soviet Union and Ethiopia in Israel, and in the previous decade, it helped bringing Jews from North America and France to Israel. In collaboration with the Israeli Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, The Jewish Agency and other Zionist organizations as Nefesh B'Nefesh, KKL-JNF has aided in bringing over a million Jews to Israel.