Recently this newsletter has focused on the domestic impact of the economy and the federation response. This week, we highlight a report from Asher Ostrin, director of JDC’s FSU Department, who recently visited Ukraine to study the current economic situation and its impact on JDC’s programs and clients.

Ukraine’s economy is in the advanced stages of collapse. The currency (Grivna) is in free fall, and markets for the few goods it produces have constricted. The unemployment rate has remained steady only because labor laws make it difficult to fire employees; instead, they get months-long unpaid leave.  Factories operate three days a week and output is reduced by more than 50 percent.

In Kiev, the request for support from Jewish families to the Jewish Family Service for pregnant women is up 31 percent. Parents are still employed, but their income is cut by at least half.  Retirees have been hit hard—their pensions have been cut, and they are growing more dependent on JDC-sponsored Hesed services.

Products that Hesed usually provides for elderly clients, from diapers to medicine, are unavailable.  Utility costs have increased four of out of the past six months; last month the price of pasta rose 35 percent and bread rose 28 percent. Each month, the elderly must choose between medicine and food. 

As for JDC, Ostrin reports, “We are in a very good place vis-a-vis those who rely on us.” Because local contracts were fixed, JDC has been able to create funds to purchase medicine for the elderly and address the increase in utility costs.

In order to ensure support for the most difficult cases in the past few years, Hesed reassessed its entire welfare caseload and is now better positioned to monitor those at high risk. Due to careful expansion of services for at-risk children, JDC is also positioned to respond to newly needy families.

Despite economic pressures, JDC presence has not diminished. Thanks to stable budgets and the careful management of currency exchange, life-sustaining programs have been maintained and even expanded.