An Interview with Yehuda Poch, Director of Communications For the One Family Fund
July 25, 2008
Yehuda Poch is Director of Communications for the One Family Fund, an Israeli organization dedicated to providing support and services to victims of terror and their families in Israel. Mr. Poch recently took some time to answer a few questions about the organization via email. More information may be found online at onefamilyfund.org.
NVR: For those who might not be familiar with the work of OneFamily, can you give us a brief description of the work your organization does?
OneFamily provides comprehensive assistance for the victims of terrorism in Israel and their families. This assistance includes financial, material, legal and emotional assistance, victims' retreats, therapeutic workshops, support groups, home visits, youth programs such as camps and a Big Brothers/Sisters program, programs for young adults, and special programs for bereaved parents. The overall aim of this assistance is to give the families the feeling that they are not alone, and that there is a broader, more experienced family there for them to help them cope with the tragedy and rebuild their shattered lives.
NVR: How is the work of OneFamily different from that of other organizations that also work with terror victims?
OneFamily is the largest organization of its kind in Israel. We are also the only one providing such comprehensive assistance. Other organizations are equipped only to provide assistance in one or two areas, such as youth programs, or financial assistance, or legal support, or retreats. OneFamily is structured to provide all kinds of assistance that a family might need. The comprehensive nature of our assistance programs is extremely important. It frequently happens that when a need for help is shown in one area, other needs can be discovered that would otherwise have gone unnoticed. For instance, a child in our summer camp had been participating in the Youth Division for two years and was a model camper. Suddenly, he began acting out, throwing things, and showing violent behavior. The camp staff and psychologist sat with him, calmed him down, and talked with him for hours, finally finding out that there was increased financial strain in the home and that the child was afraid his family would break apart. A field worker was sent to the family's home and discovered that the child's parent had just lost a job and money was very tight. Had OneFamily not run programs for youth, we would not have known of the family's need for financial assistance.
NVR: What are some of the services you provide to terror victims and their families?
When It Comes To Family, We Do Whatever It Takes Since 2001, OneFamily has developed a comprehensive assistance structure that takes into account the financial, emotional, material and legal needs of the victims of terrorism and their families. This structure includes various programs, listed here and detailed further below, aimed at strengthening the victims and their families so that they can look toward the future with greater hope.
Strengthening the Family Unit
OneFamily operates a network of field workers and hundreds of volunteers to maintain a close personal connection with every victim of terrorism.
Financial Assistance
OneFamily has provided financial assistance to over 3500 victims of terrorism and their families.
Legal Assistance
OneFamily provides victims with legal assistance to help them navigate through bureaucratic or legal entanglements that can arise from the after-effects of terrorism.
Public Representation
OneFamily’s reputation as the central organization dedicated to caring for the victims of terrorism enables us to represent the victims of terror nationally and internationally.
Healing Retreats
OneFamily holds periodic retreats for bereaved parents, widows and widowers, orphans, and wounded victims.
Therapeutic Workshops
OneFamily hosts 3-day workshops for wounded victims or those suffering the effects of Post-Trauma.
Youth Division
OneFamily runs camps and programs throughout the year for children aged 8-18 who have lost parents or siblings in terrorist attacks. Young Adults Division
OneFamily answers the needs of bereaved terror victims aged 18-30.
Adopt-A-Family
OneFamily creates a lasting and significant bond between communities and individuals around the world and families in Israel that have been irrevocably impacted by terrorism.
Bar/Bat Mitzvah Program
OneFamily encourages teenagers who reach the age of Bar or Bat Mitzvah to dedicate their simcha to helping terror victims.
Holidays
OneFamily is there with each family for the holidays with a gift and social outings making sure that every victim can celebrate the holidays in the proper spirit.
The OneFamily Centers
The OneFamily Centers in Jerusalem, Ra’anana and Hadera form the basis for all of OneFamily's activities in support of victims of terrorism.
The common thread through all these programs is the idea that terror victims find it much easier to overcome pain and anguish, and can more easily rebuild their lives and the futures of their families, when there is a supportive, caring group around them who understands what they have been through and who can help them find new strength. The programs organized by OneFamily help them grow from the experience of having loving friends upon whom they can depend.
With the help of OneFamily, it is common to hear victims tell us that they return to their families, their jobs, their lives, with renewed strength and determination not to allow terrorism to take over their lives, but rather to overcome the horrors they have experienced and continue forward.
NVR: One of the interesting features of the website for your organization is that you give survivors an opportunity to tell their stories and you show how some of them have worked to recover. What role does this play in your overall work with terror victims? We find fairly often that the victims of terrorism feel alone in the world after an attack. No one understands them, no one can identify with what they have been through or what they have lost. Perhaps more than anything else, they need the feeling that they are understood, that they are in a safe environment where they can "take off the mask" they wear, that everything is okay. They need to know that there are people who are there for them, and with them, and that they are not alone. They need encouragement, which they get from others who have "been there and lost that". They get this encouragement and identification through our support groups, our retreats, holiday events, and by knowing that there are so many others we are helping that they are not alone. When victims share their stories with each other, it has a calming and encouraging effect. It gives them a feeling that there is someone who truly understands – even without words. That feeling by itself often gives the victims the incentive they need to rebuild, to recover and to resume their lives, firm in the knowledge that what they have lost will not go unremembered and that they will be helped with their difficulties as only an organization like OneFamily can.
The articles on our website also serve to show the broader world just what it is that the victims and their families live with, and just how necessary it is to continue providing them with assistance and support of all kinds, even many years after the headlines have moved on.
NVR: What can the Jewish community in the Diaspora do to help support the victims of terrorist attacks and their loved ones?
The most important thing that every person in the Diaspora – and in Israel – can do, is to identify with and understand the victims, their families and their needs. Every person can do this in their own way – through financial support, through organizing publicity and fundraising activities in their own schools, synagogues, university or college campuses, or community at large. There is tremendous opportunity for creativity and initiative, as long as someone cares about the victims of terrorism in Israel. People can visit Israel, offer their time to volunteer, visit victims in their homes or offer to take them out for dinner, be their friend, and offer unconditional support and encouragement. When the victims feel they are not alone, they feel more encouraged and more motivated to recover.
NVR: Is there anything else you would like to add?
OneFamily depends on two things in order to help the victims of terrorism recover. The first, obviously, is financial contributions. From the coins in a child's tzedaka box to the large checks of wealthy donors, every cent counts, and every coin shows that the victims and their families have someone to count on.
The second thing we count on, which is perhaps even more important, is the friendship and closeness of family. It is our aim to bring the entire Jewish nation together as a family in supporting the victims of terrorism through the toughest struggle of their lives. We treat every victim of terrorism as if they were a member of our own family, and we view it as the mission of the Jewish nation to do the same. These are people who have been hurt or bereaved simply because they are Jews living in the Jewish State. Simply by being here, they are representing every Jew around the world in claiming and developing our land and our country. They need the help of family to continue their heroic struggle, and it is our job to make that family their reality.
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