Elena* visited the JFCS Squirrel Hill Food Pantry in the early spring, expecting to get her usual food items for the month. She was surprised when Pantry Coordinator Stacie Dow handed her a packet of powdered eggs. “We received eggs like this from the US after World War II. …Egg powder, it was new product for us. We were not only happy to have something to eat but to see something new, special for children,” she remembered.
Life in the USSR
Elena grew up in Ukraine while it was part of the Soviet Union (USSR). During WWII, her family was evacuated from Kiev and sent to the Ural region of Russia. They were on one of the last trains to make it out of Kiev before the city was invaded. “We could see nothing during the war, only starving and being afraid of passing away.” she explained. “My father was military, and the military families were evacuated.”
They stayed in the Ural region for four years until they were able to go back home. When they arrived, back in Kiev, everything was destroyed, and the US troops dropped egg powder, jarred sausages, and other food into the city for the families that were still there. She had not seen egg powder again since that time, until the day she got it at the food pantry, reminding her of her life back in Ukraine and her family. “It’s a big story, you see? Life is not very easy, but very interesting,” she said.
Elena’s family has had a long-standing relationship with JFCS, starting with her arrival to the US. In the 90s, JFCS’s resettlement services primarily served Jewish families from the Soviet Union, helping them with housing, food, jobs, and adjustment to life here. Elena, along with her husband, daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter, and son-in-law’s mother, came to Pittsburgh as refugees through JFCS’s resettlement program.
Before coming to the US, Elena and her family were living in Kiev. “But it was terrible radiation,” she said, “because Chernobyl was only 100 miles away. And the radiation became more and more.”
“When my granddaughter was born in ‘91, we decided to move out so that she didn’t have radiation,” she continued. “We had no English. I learned German and my daughter learned Spanish. …We started going to a special school to learn English.”
Coming to America
“In August ‘94, we came to America. Everybody greeted us, found us a good apartment. And we start American life,” she said. “In ‘94, if you were Jewish, you could come easily. And Jewish Family helped us. They pay for us and every person got $2500 [loan], and when we came to America, we started to pay this money back. But it’s not so much–$100 every month,” she explained. JFCS helped her family connect to English classes, medical care, and more. They also helped her daughter look for a job.
Now, many of her family members have passed away, including her husband. “This is life, right now. In Russian, they say ‘A lot of water runs.’ ‘Много воды утекло.’ …I’m a widow. My granddaughter is in nursing school in Pittsburgh. My daughter lives in upstate New York.” She still keeps in touch with her family regularly. Elena’s home hosts dozens of photo albums with memories from her life in Europe and her early years in the US.
A Pantry for the Community
Elena started using the JFCS Squirrel Hill Food Pantry when it was still on Forward Avenue in Squirrel Hill. “On Forward Avenue, it was very small place. They gave us a lot of food. We lived very close, on the same street, and it was very easy. Not so much people lived here,” Elena remembered. “This is very good place for people who are in need, and don’t have so much money to buy food.” She showed off some freshly washed fruit that she had picked up from the pantry that week.
“Everything in the pantry is good for us. Everything!” she exclaimed. “I was in the pantry Tuesday. Everybody very friendly, helps as much as they can. Only good things I can say about this place!”
Elena expressed her appreciation for the help she has received from JFCS since first arriving in the US until now. She was also appreciative of JFCS’s help for the community-at-large. “Let me tell you a story. This was 5 years after we arrived; a new family came–husband, wife, and two children. We helped them get an apartment close to us, but they were almost without money.” At the time, the pantry was in another location, and Elena brought the couple there and told the staff about their needs. “In a moment, a lot of packages were around them. And they looked with wonder, and the girl started crying. This was very good moment–what the Jewish pantry did for these people.”
Elena declined to use her real name because she said, “This is not just my story. There are many people who have this same story. The food pantry helps a lot of people. I wish that the pantry is around a long time because a lot of people need it–not only Jewish, but non-Jewish too.”
*Name has been changed