Ryan Kaplan - On The Ground In Krakow

Ryan Kaplan is the Director for the Jewish Community Center of Krakow's Ride for the Living, an annual cycling event from the gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau to JCC Krakow, giving participants the opportunity to immerse themselves in Krakow's Jewish past, present, and future. As many of you know, we've been working hard to evolve Charity Miles so that we can be more accessible to all the great charities that want to join us.  We're happy to say that we're now more able to do so, and JCC Krakow is one of the newest members of the Charity Miles community. In ordinary times, JCC Krakow provides social, educational and community-oriented services to the Jewish community of Krakow, offers programming open to the entire Krakow community to foster Polish-Jewish relations, and acts as a visitor center for the hundreds of thousands of tourists, many of them Jewish, who pass through Krakow. But these are not ordinary times. As of the date of this podcast, we are over a month into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has sent over 2 million Ukranian refugees to Poland. The Polish people are rising to the occasion, doing everything they can to support the refugees. JCC Krakow is stepping up as well.  Since the war began, they have served many thousands of Ukranians, an average of over 300 each day. They are housing and feeding over 200 Ukrainians, Jews and non-Jews, in hotel rooms and apartments in Krakow.   They have outfitted and opened a mother and child safe space with a local partner that provides day care for 25 young children, and Polish and English classes, psychological counseling, and job training for their mothers in a warm, cozy environment. And much more. I'm grateful that Ryan was able to take the time to share his perspective from the ground with us. If you'd like to support or learn more about the work that JCC Krakow is doing for Ukranian refugees, please click here.