Also included in this program bloc is a repair service staffed by 88 volunteers who repair watches, small appliances, shoes, and other items used by hesed clients. Craftsmen also go to the homes of clients to do home maintenance and to repair larger appliances.

The hesed also offers assistance to 450 vision-impaired individuals, many of whom use ‘talking books” and other tapes prepared by the Jewish Institute for the Blind in New York. This program also provides clients with cassette player-recorders.10 Another program assists hearing-impaired individuals, providing hearing aids and related services.

Approximately 200 families are enrolled in the Mazel Tov program, a service to young families with small children. However, the future of Mazel Tov is uncertain as it is threatened by JDC budgetary constraints.

A fourth program bloc, said Mr. Gomberg is Jewish culture. The hesed maintains a small library and sponsors several clubs exploring various facets of Jewish culture. Individuals enrolled in an Acquaintances Club range in age from 17 to 96.

The fifth program bloc, Mr. Gomberg continued, consists of services that pull other program blocs together into a unified whole. For example, the hesed supports an information service about its numerous programs. A volunteer service enrolls about 750 people, 85 percent of whom also are clients of the hesed. (For example, the men who operate the repair service all are retired tradesmen and hobbyists who are hesed clients.) Mr. Gomberg noted that many students at International Solomon University (see below) also volunteer at the hesed, but failed to mention that student ‘volunteer work’ is reimbursed by tuition payments on their behalf by JDC.

In response to a question, Mr. Gomberg said that the hesed receives no support from the Ukrainian government for the many services that it provides to Jewish elderly. On the contrary, continued Mr. Gomberg, the Ukrainian government creates obstacles for the hesed in serving its clientele. Mr. Gomberg cited a new law requiring recipients of charity to pay a 20 percent tax on all assistance that brings their income to a level over 318 hryvna per month.11 For example, if a hesed client has a total monthly income of 360 hryvna based on a pension of 160 hryvna, food aid from the hesed in the amount of 100 hryvna, and miscellaneous additional assistance (such as medications) from the hesed worth another 100 hryvna, the client will be required to pay a 20 percent tax on 42 hryvna, the amount of income in excess of 318 hryvna. Many isolated elderly do not even know about the new tax, said Mr. Gomberg, and others probably are unable to understand the law or to complete the necessary tax forms. If the clients do not pay the tax, they will be fined. In order to reduce the liability of individual clients, said Mr. Gomberg, the hesed probably will pay the tax on their behalf, but such payments obviously will increase the expenses of the hesed. At the same time, he continued, the hesed is working to change the law.

Generally, new clients enter the hesed system through any of five methods, responded Mr. Gomberg to another question. First, hesed employees, such as homecare workers, hear about individuals who require assistance and then inform the hesed about these individuals. Second, the hesed periodically contacts government welfare offices about Jews who may be on government lists. Third, the hesed attracts inquiries through advertisement of its services on television programs and in newspapers. Fourth, the hesed is well-known and receives requests for service from individuals in need or from their families and/or acquaintances. Fifth, the hesed hears about people in need through the ”Jewish telegraph,” i.e., word-of-mouth in the Jewish community.

Answering another query, Mr. Gomberg estimated that about 500 Jews reside in city and regional nursing homes. The hesed, he said, does not work with these individuals on a regular basis. Alluding to the poor quality of state nursing homes, Mr. Gomberg said that the Jewish population should have a high-standard nursing home of its own, but that no resources are available for such a facility. He noted that Rabbi Bleich is developing a residential building for Jewish elderly (see below), but termed this undertaking a “commercial” project because residents will be required to exchange their current apartments for an apartment at the senior housing facility. Ukrainian tax restrictions, said Mr. Gomberg, prevent the hesed from engaging in similar ventures.12

Mr. Gomberg acknowledged that the Kyiv hesed is unusual in that it does not provide any community center programs for non-elderly Jewish populations. He said that several small Jewish community centers -- such as Kinor (see below), Sunflower, and Mishpocha -- provide such community center programs to Jewish children and families.13

The Joint Distribution Committee, which provides primary support to the hesed, notified the hesed that its allocation will be reduced by one-third during the current year.14 Therefore, said Mr. Gomberg, the hesed board is looking at “life and death issues” in deciding where to reduce expenditures. Two programs are deemed essential: (1) providing food to those elderly who need it, and (2) providing heat to elderly Jews whose domiciles in villages require heating oil, firewood, etc. Program cuts will be made in social areas, such as adult day care and the Mazel Tov program for young families, said Mr. Gomberg.

5. Following the meeting with Mr. Gomberg and a tour of the hesed building, the Chicago group visited two homebound clients of the hesed. Frustrated by hesed-arranged visits in the past to individuals who were in relatively good health with few serious problems, the Kehilla Project delegation requested appointments with elderly Jews encountering major difficulties in aging. The hesed complied, scheduling visits with two older Kyiv Jews experiencing significant problems in their daily lives.

10. In later comments, Mr. Gomberg observed that more than 5,000 hesed clients have vision problems related to cataracts or glaucoma.
11. The exchange rate at the time of the Chicago visit was approximately 5.32 hryvna per U.S. dollar.
12. A large number of individuals who are likely to be among the first residents of Rabbi Bleich’s project currently are homeless and thus will not be involved in any exchange of property.
13.  Mr. Gomberg’s remarks suggested that the hesed did not “need” to offer community center programs because other organizations already do so. In reality, the hesed operates as a dedicated facility for Jewish elderly because, due to poor site selection and inadequate planning, it has no space in which to offer other programs. The small Jewish community centers to which he referred all were developed in partial response to the failure of the hesed to serve other population groups. Unlike hasadim in several other large post-Soviet cities, the Kyiv hesed also fails to serve handicapped children, such as those with cerebral palsy. Mr. Gomberg acknowledged at another point in the discussion that the Kyiv Jewish community probably could use another “four to five” community facilities with premises equivalent in space to that of the hesed.
14.  No explanation was given for the budget cuts. The JDC allocation includes funds from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany; the Claims Conference monies actually exceed those from JDC itself.