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Stories of Refugee Support: BJ Members Make a Difference

“My time volunteering has changed me as a person. It showed me that even the smallest things can have a big impact, and that working together is better than working alone.”

In honor of HIAS’ 2023 Annual Refugee Shabbat, we are sharing stories from BJ members who have volunteered their time to support refugees, asylum seekers, migrants, and immigrants in New York City and beyond. Whether it was through direct service, education, or advocacy, their efforts made a difference. Here is what some of them had to say:

Learn more about how to support our work with refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants.

Ruth Jarmul

Dropping off dinners is very easy to do, and having a warm meal hopefully makes them feel a little better and a bit more at home.

“My mother and her family arrived in the U.S. as refugees from Nazi Germany in 1938, and retelling their experience was an important part of our family history when I was growing up. My mom told me that one of her first memories upon arriving was going to a diner where her father had told her to order breakfast. She knew almost no English, and her father told her to say “Two eggs please.” She proudly repeated the three words she memorized. However, when the counterman replied, “How do you want themscrambled or fried?,” she burst into tears. Welcome to America.

I often think of my mother when I drop off dinners for the refugees at SPSA. It is very easy to do, and having a warm meal hopefully makes them feel a little better and a bit more at home.”

—Ruth Jarmul, BJ member who has been volunteering to bring meals to the five asylum seekers who are staying at St. Paul & St. Andrew Church

Gayle Waxenberg

Helping a family is a most profound experience. It is actually an honor. It is humbling and you quickly are reminded that we are all the same, just born into different circumstances, and we are put on this earth to take care of each other.

When I volunteered to help settle a refugee family, I knew that I would be part a team that would change a family’s life. What I didn’t realize was how it would change my life.

It’s easy to go about one’s life and believe you are grateful for what you have and wish to share and give back and make the world a better place. But being immersed within a family, with a young child, who have just picked themselves up, left their country with nothing but a few suitcases and the clothes on their backs to achieve safety and opportunity, to not speak the language, to start over professionally, to have no home and depend on strangersyou in particular!is a most profound experience. It is actually an honor. It is humbling and you quickly are reminded that we are all the same, just born into different circumstances, and we are put on this earth to take care of each other. We simply must.

I was in charge of education, particularly finding the appropriate school for a 5-year old girl, Stephany, who spoke only Spanish and was to live in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. We all know the importance of education and early intervention. Whatever I was able to accomplish now would set the pace for Stephany’s future. Through a ton of networking, I was able to identify the leading bi-lingual charter school in the state, serendipitously located in Sunset Park! Through the generosity of the BJ community, we were able to clothe Stephany in the required school uniform and pay for the after-school program so her parents could work. She is thriving, and we maintain a relationship with the director of the school, creating a new community and expanding BJ’s reach to potentially help more children and families in the future.

There is much to celebrate and this experience is a testament to the power of community, humanity, tzedakah, and the spirit of what BJ does. I will be eternally grateful to have been part of this team.

—Gayle Waxenberg, BJ member and co-leader of the Education Committee for BJ Home Project

David Waldman

My time volunteering for the Asylum Seekers backpack project has changed me as a person, and taught me many valuable lessons. It showed me that even the smallest things can have a big impact, and that working together is better than working alone.

When I was in search of a project for my Bar Mitzvah, I had a lot of ideas of what I wanted to do, but none of them felt very right. Don’t get me wrong, they were all amazing mitzvahs, but none of them felt like the kind of projects I would want to do for my Bar Mitzvah. When I learned that there was a BJ initiative to help asylum seekers start a new life in New York AND partner with the St. Paul & St. Andrew (SPSA) Church, I knew it was the right project for me. First of all, my mom is from Brazil and an immigrant herself, which resonated with me on a very personal level. Also, the fact that the project was in collaboration with another organization felt right to memy Bar Mitzvah Torah portion is Yitro, which features the Ten Commandments, and they really embody working together with our neighbors to build a better community. 

My time volunteering for the Asylum Seekers backpack project has changed me as a person, and taught me many valuable lessons. It showed me that even the smallest things can have a big impact, and that working together is better than working alone.

—David Waldman, BJ Member and Project Volunteer, Welcome Backpacks for Asylum Seekers

Judy Bass

Growing up in New York City, I heard stories about my own grandparents and other relatives arriving as refugees in the United States in the late 1880s and early 1900s, enduring hardship and making a new life for themselves. It was those stories that resonated with me.

From daily reports in the media, we are all aware that there is currently an immigration crisis.  We hear regularly about Ukrainians forced to leave their homes, Afghans who helped our military waiting in vain to come to the United States and apply for humanitarian parole, Syrians victimized by the ongoing civil war living in refugee camps and makeshift settlements and struggling for survival, and migrants bussed to New York City against their will after treacherous journeys crossing the Southern border and arriving with nothing. There are currently over 100 million displaced persons worldwide, including over 30 million refugees, a number really hard to grasp.  

Growing up in New York City, I heard stories about my own grandparents and other relatives arriving as refugees in the United States in the late 1880s and early 1900s, enduring hardship and making a new life for themselves. It was those stories that resonated with me when I did research on the plight of Haitian refugees while in law school and when I became motivated as an adult to take on social justice work supporting refugees and asylum seekers as well as that of hunger in our backyard. 

With the support of BJ, I helped found the Synagogue Coalition on the Refugee and Immigration Crisis (SCRIC) initially to address the Syrian refugee crisis and then the growing numbers of asylum seekers at the Southern border. What began as a coalition of only 6 members now includes 29 synagogues and 6 non-profit institutions throughout New York City and has become a model for the formation of other HIAS-affiliated coalitions nation-wide. Our members sponsor individuals and families from a variety of countries and work with HIAS to advocate for passage of legislation like the Afghan Adjustment Act and to oppose border expulsions (Title 42).  We assist Team TLC NYC in greeting and providing supplies for migrants arriving at the Port Authority.  We have also joined the Campaign for Access, Representation and Equity (CARE) for Immigrant Families to support passage of the Access to Representation Act in New York that will guarantee a right to legal counsel in immigration court proceedings.

It is very meaningful to me to play a role in connecting people in various New York City-based congregations with others and facilitating their working together on these important issues both within their own institutions and as part of the broader Jewish and interfaith community. Hopefully we will also help make change happen in our broken immigration system.   

—Judy Bass, BJ member and Co-Chair of The Synagogue Coalition on the Refugee and Immigration Crisis.

*If you are interested in getting involved with the coalition, email Judy Bass.

Judith Rosenbaum

As we watched all the folks coming down the escalator, we saw a family of three who fit the description….Upon seeing our welcome sign, five-year-old Stephany ran down the escalator and threw her arms around the two of us!

For the past eight months, I’ve been involved in the BJ HOME project, a partnership effort with HIAS-NY and Commonpoint Queens. The HOME project matches a refugee family with a community group or organization, such as BJ. While HIAS deals with the paperwork and other bureaucratic hurdles, our community was responsible for raising funds, gathering together at least ten committed volunteers, and then supporting the family in their adaptation to the U.S.

I was asked to be a chair in our group back in April. HIAS didn’t yet know what country the family would be from, when they’d be arriving or how many were in the family. It made it very hard to find them an apartment (especially in New York’s current high rent crisis), decide which neighborhood would be best, find schools for children (if there would be children) , etc. We recruited volunteers, organized sub committees, and researched. And then waited, and waited and waited. Just as summer was starting, we got the news of our Guatemalan match family. We had two weeks to get everything in place for them.

On July 26, 2022, BJ staff member Kiana and I picked up our match family at LaGuardia airport. As we watched all the folks coming down the escalator, we saw a family of three who fit the description we were given: a young couple, with a five year old daughter. Upon seeing our welcome sign, five-year-old Stephany ran down the escalator and threw her arms around the two of us! After loading their belongings into my car, we soon drove over the bridge to Brooklyn.  I pointed out the sunset behind the Manhattan skyline. So beautiful. Muy hermosa. A bright beginning for the family!

—Judith Rosenbaum, BJ member and co-chair of the BJ Home Project 

David Coleman

If you ask one of our volunteers I think they’ll tell you that the work they do isn’t easy, but it’s important and rewarding.

In 2017 a friend asked me for a surprising favor: Would I mentor a refugee and help them find a job? At the time, I had no idea that by saying yes, and agreeing to volunteer, my life would change so much for the better.  

The friend was BJ member Richard Fields. He had joined the committee organized by Rabbi Shuli Passow and others to help victims of Syria’s civil war start new lives in our community. He would ask a few friends to focus on just one job-seeker at a time and have them go deep into one-on-one mentoring for as long as it took to get the refugee employed. While all that coaching and kibitzing was going on, he would work to open doors with employers.

That’s how it started and today, some six years later, more than 140 refugee clients have been placed in safe, sustaining, dignified jobs with the help of dedicated BJ volunteer career mentors such as  Shirley Abraham, Judy Karpel, Tom Strauss, Sarah Rosenthal, Shelley Wong, Julie Kowitz Margolies, Helen Freidus and others. The group Richard launched is now a fully fledged non-profit organization called the Refugee Employment Partnership (REP), and I have journeyed from doing a one-time favor to being a full-time employee. REP formed a strategic partnership with Rutgers Presbyterian Church and participants now come from both congregations and also from the community at large. We have developed a strong network of more than 50 employers who find our people make really valuable team members 

If you ask one of our volunteers I think they’ll tell you that the work they do isn’t easy, but it’s important and rewarding. Refugees face a kind of trauma, fear, and loss that I truly can’t imagine. It’s clear that having a steady job with fair pay is one of the best ways for them to begin to heal and build back their lives. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to work with refugees and honored to know the dedicated volunteers from BJ and beyond, who care enough to put other things aside, roll up their sleeves, and make a difference for someone less fortunate. 

—David Coleman, BJ member and Program Director of The Refugee Employment Partnership

*We are always looking for new employers! If you know anyone, please email David Coleman 

Ways to volunteer

  • We are partnering with St. Peter & St. Andrew’s Church (SPSA) and other faith partners to coordinate a weekly distribution event to ensure asylum seekers have access to toiletries, clothes, mutual aid support, legal and social services, food, and metrocards. Volunteers are needed to help sort and organize donations on Sundays at 12:00 PM, and to aid in the distribution of donations on Monday mornings from 8:30-11:00 AM. Sign up for a shift.
  • Team TLC NYC is a mutual aid network assisting migrants arriving in New York, particularly to welcome, offer services, and provide donations at Port Authority on a daily basis. Sign up for a shift.

Interested in learning more about ways to get involved with our work supporting refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants at BJ? Email Kiana Davis.