While the first several waves of emigres have managed to capitalize on the technology-based gold rush, many in the latest influx are having a hard time getting their basic needs met, according to Rabbi Shimon Margolin.
Margolin heads San Francisco’s Techiah Foundation, a 3-year-old organization devoted to meeting the needs of the Bay Area’s Russian Jewish community. He is now trying to address one of the most glaring needs of new emigres — food.
Ten Yad (Hebrew for “give a hand”) is a weekly food distribution program that is jointly sponsored by the Techiah Foundation and the San Francisco Food Bank. Ten Yad had its third food distribution program two weeks ago at San Francisco’s Congregation Adath Israel.
Noting that the Bay Area is home to well over 40,000 ex-Soviet emigres, the fourth-largest concentration in the country, Margolin said there’s a dire need for the more established emigres to look out for the well-being of recent arrivals.
Ten Yad, which was initiated three months ago after a $5,000 fund-raiser, is a product of that concern.
“When a person can’t even speak English, it’s really difficult to pay $1,200 a month for a one-bedroom,” said Margolin, a San Francisco resident who emigrated five years ago from Ukraine.
“It’s getting harder and harder to make it in ‘little Odessa,'” he added, referring to the nickname of San Francisco’s Richmond District. “The most dangerous period of time for recent immigrants is that period of time when they’re acclimating to a new culture — and that period of time can last anywhere from six months to two years.”
Ten Yad tries to help recent emigres through those lean times, according to Margolin, feeding more than 200 families a month with a combination of fresh produce, cereal, milk and canned food products, The goal is to eventually reach 400 families a month. The program, which is strictly kosher, substitutes soy-based products for meats.
The pantry is actually one of a handful of similar pantries located throughout San Francisco, according to Anne Quaintance, the associate programs manager of the San Francisco Food Bank.
“What happened in the past two or three years, with all the rapid business growth, has made it very difficult to survive for moderate- and low-income families,” said Quaintance.
“God forbid people are living on fixed incomes in this city, because proper nutrition is usually the first thing to go.”
Ten Yad, part of a consortium of what Quaintance calls “neighborhood grocery networks,” functions similarly to an open-air farmer’s market. Participants are free to pick through the stacks of produce and canned items to take what they are most in need of.
“There’s no stigma attached to Ten Yad, or any of the other neighborhood grocery networks,” said Quaintance. “There’s a real effort to create an comfortable atmosphere. So there’s almost no paperwork or self-verification involved. People don’t have to feel ashamed about going there.
“I think Ten Yad serves a real void in the Richmond community.”
Quaintance’s opinion is shared by Pnina Levermore, the executive director of the Bay Area Council for Jewish Rescue and Renewal.
Levermore called Ten Yad, and similar emerging programs within the Russian Jewish community, “groundbreaking.”
Levermore, who works with the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation in sponsoring the Emigre Leadership Institute, said the new programs represent a departure from the past.
“Historically, there’s an attitude among the emigres of being taken [care of] by the powers that be, as opposed to being able to help themselves,” said Levermore.
“In the circumstances that they came from, the environment was manipulated by forces beyond their control — the government had a role in everything. So any attempt from within the community to lend a helping hand is really exciting.”
One member of Ten Yad’s advisory board offers proof of that dictum.
Having been offered a helping hand by the Bay Area Jewish community when she arrived from Odessa 23 years ago, Maria Kristul is more than happy to return the favor.
Kristul, who also lives in the Richmond District, said the local Jewish community helped land her a job in the cosmetics department of a department store, even though she was barely able to speak English.
“It was a little like on-the-job training,” said Kristul, who has been a mortgage banker for the past 15 years. “It definitely wasn’t easy at first, but the community really helped me out a lot. I’d say the emigre community is doing the same thing with Ten Yad — helping people follow their dreams in the land of opportunities.”
Rabbi Margolin put it another way.
“With this economy being so hard on the new emigres, we really have to galvanize the community, and find a way to turn receivers into givers.”