WAYS TO HELP Donate: • In honor • In memory • Bequest/Planned Giving • Matching grants PRESIDENT DIRECTORS Gia Machlin Jonathan Alter Donations can be made online at www.bluecardfund.org, Mark Babyatsky American Express MembersGive, AmazonSmile, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD Elizabeth Bergstein eBay Giving Works or by mailing a check to: Michael D. Lissner Louis Berkowitz Sharon Cohen The Blue Card, Inc. VICE CHAIRMAN Ronald Elton 171 Madison Avenue, Suite 1405 Orit Hodarkovsky Peter Friedmann Peggy Heine New York, NY 10016 FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Elinor Heller Elie Rubinstein Susan Jacobson Benjamin Jaffe VICE PRESIDENTS Helen Kober Volunteer: Harriet Abramson Lini Lipton • At The Blue Card office Frank Harris Zeva Oelbaum • Visit a Holocaust survivor at Arie Hochberg Heidi Rieger David Wrobel Elizabeth Shamir home or in the hospital Eve Stieglitz • Support the B’nai Mitzvah TREASURER Caron Trakman Simcha project Arie Hochberg Betti Weimersheimer • Deliver holiday food packages SECRETARY RABBINIC COMMITTEE Patricia Lenkov Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider Rabbi Steven Kushner ASSISTANT SECRETARY Erika Teutsch HONORARY DIRECTORS Berthold Bilski PRESIDENTS EMERITI Seth Glickenhaus Mark Bilski Charles Grodin Join our team: Leora Kahn Max Liebmann Mimi Lieber Eric Mayer • Marathons: New York City, Doris Schechter Atlanta, Miami and more Margit Ulrich • Bike New York Albert Wojnilower EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Masha Pearl The Blue Card, Inc. The Blue Card, Inc. 171 Madison Avenue, Suite 1405 171 Madison Avenue, Suite 1405 New York, NY 10016 New York, NY 10016 212.239.2251 212.239.2251 [email protected] [email protected] The Blue Card’s 2013 Grants at a Glance Description of The Blue Card’s Programs Meet Emily K. Emergency Cash Assistance Program: provides for survivors’ most immediate one of The Blue Card’s clients 8 9 10 11 needs by helping with the cost of medicine, rent, food and other essentials. 1. Monthly Stipend $434,000 7 1 The Holocaust Survivor Emergency Cash Assistance Program is partially 2. Dental Care $421,000 funded by the Claims Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. 3. Telephone Emergency Response $230,000 6 4. Emergency Cash Assistance $253,000 Dental Program: named after Curt C. and Else Silberman, provides 5. Jewish Holiday Grant $153,000 much-needed funding for dental care, especially crucial at the time of 5 6. Birthday Program $55,000 federal budget cuts. 7. Homecare $220,000 Stipend Program: supports the most poverty stricken survivors with monthly 8. Bring A Smile $19,000 checks. 9. Fighting Cancer Together Program $56,000 provides $200 for the High Holidays, $200 for 4 2 10. Summer Vacation $21,000 Jewish Holiday Program: 11. Vitamin Program $8,000 Hanukkah and $200 for Passover, giving survivors the financial means to enjoy a happier holiday season. 3 Total Grants: $1,870,000 The Summer Vacation Program: named after Adolph and Lotte Rosenberg, offers an expense-paid summer vacation program to needy survivors in the New York area. Survivors are provided with handicapped accessible Emily was born in the small town of Khmilnyk in western Ukraine in January of accommodations, transportation, scheduled meals, and a well-planned 1917. Khmilnyk was captured by the Germans in 1941. She was only 24 years old The Blue Card’s Clients Across the United States in the winter of 1942 when the Nazis and Ukrainian police came for her family. Her itinerary for a break from city life, making the program structured, safe, and handicapped brother along with their parents were shot in front of her when the group-oriented. SS entered their home. Along with many others from her village, she was marched The Emergency Response Program: named after Jakob Mogilnik, provides the to a death camp in the forest at the edge of town. Unsure of her ethnicity, the alert system to Holocaust survivors who do not have the financial resources to Germans briefly allowed Emily and her young son to leave, but quickly after the pay for installation, service, and maintenance. The system is programmed to be release, a local officer recognized them. As that officer searched for them, Emily in the survivor’s native language e.g. Yiddish, German, Russian, Hungarian, etc. got on her hands and knees so she could crawl through the forest. Carrying her son under the back of her shirt, she somehow managed to get away. In case of an emergency such as a fall, a simple press of a neck or wrist button activates an automated speakerphone. The operator answers in the survivor’s Within two weeks of the escape, Emily sadly learned that more than 11,000 native language and immediately dispatches required assistance. Jews from Khmilnyk were shot and killed. She lived in a labor camp for the last two years of the war. Mazel Tov Birthday Program: provides survivors with a check and a card on their birthday. After the war, she tried to pick up the pieces and worked as an editor of school textbooks in Ukraine. However, in 1980, she decided that moving to a new coun- Vitamins Program: provides Holocaust survivors with multivitamins, minerals, try might help the healing process and so, she came to the United States at age supplements, protein drinks (diabetic and non-diabetic). 64, with little knowledge of English. New to the country and not speaking the language, Emily supported herself by babysitting and rebuilt her life making a Bring-a-Smile Program: named after Sonia and Max Lonstein, offers special second home on the Upper West side of Manhattan, where she found a commu- support for terminally ill Holocaust survivors. The program provides resources nity of friends and neighbors. for survivors to realize a final experience or wish. One of the things that sustained her during the desperate times of persecution Charitable Standing The “Fighting Cancer Together” Program: named after Siggi B. Wilzig, assists and still does so today, is her love of music and practicing the mandolin. Like Holocaust survivors suffering from cancer with medical copays, many Holocaust survivors, she fled her homeland as an accomplished artist and transportation, nutrition and support group services. still plays and performs today, so many years later. offers volunteer visits to As with most people, aging has unfortunately given rise to many medical The Blue Card-Lissner Hospital Visitation Program: hospitalized Holocaust survivors who need guidance and emotional support. problems including cancer, depression, a hip replacement, severe dental problems and a condition leading to the need for a pacemaker. The Blue Card has The Nutritional Guidance Program: named after Rita Berkowitz, provides helped Emily with all of these challenges by way of payment of medical expenses, monthly food stipends and nutritional supplements. It also educates dental work and medication, as well as offering much needed emotional support. participants on proper nutrition. 2015 Team Blue Card Bike Tour Application To qualify for Team Blue Card, please fill out and return the application at your earliest convenience. Please note that application does not guarantee acceptance . _______________________________________________________________________ First Name Middle Last Name _______________________________________________________________________ Address _______________________________________________________________________ City State Zip _______________________________________________________________________ Email Cell ________________________________________________________________________ DOB Gender Shirt Size ________________________________________________________________________ Occupation Employer ________________________________________________________________________ Emergency Contact Relationship Phone Page | 1 Please list names of endurance events you have participated in and their locations: ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Do you have a personal connection to the Holocaust? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ Please indicate how much you are committing to raise ___________________________ How do you plan to raise the funds? __________________________________________ How did you hear about The Blue Card? Newspaper ______________TV_______________Social Media____________________ Family ______________Friends_____________ Co-workers_______________________ Other ___________________________________________________________________ Financials: As per the organizers of Bike New York, the fundraising minimum is $750 per entry. If you wish to remit your participation fee by credit card, please fill out the information below. Credit Card: Amex_______Visa_______MasterCard_______Discover________________ Card Number___________________________ CSC (Security) Number_______________ Expiration: Month_______ Year__________ Billing Address:___________________________________________________________ City________________________State_______Zip___________________ Card Holder’s Signature___________________________ Date___________________________ Page | 2 Medical Waiver You understand that participating in the 2015 Bike New York bicycle tour as a member of team of The Blue Card, including pre-event training and related event activities (collectively referred to as the “Event”) is a potentially hazardous activity. You agree not to participate unless you are medically able and properly trained. You are voluntarily