In time for Christmas, the Jewish Foundation For the Righteous (JFR), headquartered in West Orange, NJ, sent more than $300,000 to Polish gentiles who rescued Jews during the Holocaust. The financial assistance included $2,500 for each of the 110 righteous Poles who had been identified by Yad Vashem. The awards will go towards the purchase of food and other needed items, like medications and home heating fuel. This is the largest award that JFR has made in its 30-year history of charitable giving.

Also sent this year was a $10,000 grant to the Anne Frank Foundation in Basel, Switzerland. A separate grant of $5,000 was made to the kosher food pantry in Warsaw for the distribution of food parcels to righteous gentiles living there.

The increased gifts demonstrate the JFR’s commitment to helping righteous gentiles, particularly during the COVID pandemic that has created shortages of food and medications and funds to purchase these items, said Stanlee Stahl, the organization’s executive vice president. “This financial assistance is just one of the ways we can offer our boundless gratitude for all that they did to save Jews during the Holocaust.”