After all the years of suffering, trauma and struggle, 25-30% of Holocaust survivors in the US are living at or below the poverty level. In addition to the challenges of care giving for seniors, these particular seniors’ issues are intensified with the trauma of their past. John and Amy Israel Pregulman created KAVOD-Ensuring Dignity for Holocaust Survivors in the fall of 2015, and Amy took over as executive director in April, 2016. KAVOD, which means dignity, fills the gap for the survivors living in poverty. The mission is simple: offer emergency aid to survivors for basic needs. With an established board that consists of mostly children of survivors and an 501(c) 3 classification acquired in the fall of 2016, KAVOD has raised over $30,000 and served survivors in the Memphis, Denver, Chicago, Chattanooga, New York, Charlotte, Elizabeth, NJ, Somerville, NJ, and Charleston.

One hundred percent of all donations received by KAVOD goes directly to the survivors. KAVOD, which is not affiliated with Denver’s Kavod Senior Living, works with Jewish Family Service and other community service agencies that serve senior survivors and understand their needs. All gifts are confidential, even to the KAVOD board and staff. The gifts from KAVOD come in the form of gift cards to local grocery stores or pharmacies to be used to offset expenses caused by an emergency situation. So far KAVOD has given $1,800 worth of King Soopers gift cards to JFS to distribute to Holocaust survivors. “We realize this is one small way we can offer this important and purposeful work of preserving memory and tikun olam (repairing the world),” says Amy Pregulman.

“We know that if we can touch even one survivor, we are making a difference.” The Pregulmans live half time in Denver and the other half in Memphis. John Pregulman has photographed Holocaust survivors in the Denver area. To date, he has photographed more than 450 survivors. Information: Amy Israel Pregulman, amy.kavod@gmail.com.