The Jerusalem Connection has been actively supporting the ministry of Larry and Dede Miller for the last two years. The Lev Project was born out of a promise the Millers made while looking into the eyes of Holocaust Survivors they met in Hungary during twelve years of ministry there. The Lev Project identifies survivors in critical need, collects and distributes aid, sets up a container gardening network for growing vegetables, visits survivors, and assists with Aliyah. Right now they need our help! The winter months are approaching and they are desperate for a vehicle that will help them in their ministry to survivors spread out all over Hungary. Right now they are taking public transportation. They have about 800.00 so far but they need to raise another 4,000.00 to purchase a used Ford Focus Station Wagon and a small cargo trailor.
Warm greetings to you from The Lev Project in Eastern Europe! The Lev Project was born out of a promise we made while living in Israel and Hungary as we visited Survivors we met…a promise to not sweep their suffering under the rug. To see, hear and be a voice for these miracle children of the Holocaust. To love, aid and protect. Since moving to Hungary in June of this year we have been very busy working on that promise! Please take a few moments and meet just a few of our precious friends and let us share with you how you can be a part in a very practical way of helping us reach them.
Gyöngyi. Her very name in Hungarian means, ‘pearl’. And she is definitely a pearl of great price. We gave our hearts away the day we met her. Piercing blue eyes. An author of several books. 94 years old. Survivor of Auschwitz. She lives outside the city of Budapest in an old apartment with electric wires running across the ceiling and in places of the room where there should not be an electric wire. On the day we took this picture, she had dressed in her finest and as we left the tears formed in her eyes as she exclaimed over and over to us, “I am SO happy! Thank you for coming…I’m so very glad you came. So very glad! I am so happy!” Gyöngyi is the only 94-year old we know who has asked us if we can text! 😉 She calls us just to see how we are doing and to chat. Another heart added to our family.
Maria. Maria lives in a dilapidated Jewish home for the elderly which existed in the 1940s, the very home where Jewish residents at that time were taken out of the home and shot by the Arrow Cross Party, under the leadership of Father Kun – a priest whose orders always began with “In the name of Christ…fire!” Maria is such a delightful soul. She is from Romania and has no family or money of her own. She is 93 years old whose memory has been altered by evidence of a large scar on her head where she said she was hit. She loves to visit and show us her pictures. Her biggest concern is when she dies she wants to be buried by her husband in Romania. We have told her that when that day comes we will gladly make sure that happens.
Dr. Marci (Marcelle). We met this treasure on a bus trip with Survivors where we attended a Holocaust memorial at a site in Hungary. Marci somehow survived four different work camps. His father was deported from the ghetto here in Budapest and never returned. His mother died of cancer during the war. He loves to discuss theological matters. He is 92 years old and swims 15 laps every day. Whenever we visit Marci there are baked goods and drinks, which he lovingly displays on his simple table. He lives alone. He has a son and one grand-daughter. At the end of the war a soldier who liberated him told him he could go anywhere in the world he wanted to. He only wanted to go home to Hungary to find out what happened to his family. There are always hugs and kisses when we visit him. Our hearts have expanded wide to make room for this precious pearl.
Before leaving for Hungary we had hoped to raise enough funds for the necessary purchase of a car and small cargo trailer but we ran out of time. Now that we are here we realize it is almost impossible to get done what we need to for the survivors and others without a vehicle.
• Survivors are spread out. Without a car we have no way to reach Survivors in the countryside, nor those who live in nearby countries. Even in the city it can take up much of the day to travel by public transportation to reach them.
• For example: By public transportation it takes four hours round-trip to visit just one survivor that lives forty minutes away by car. By the time we have traveled the 4 hours, on various forms of transport, along with all the walking needed between the transportation stops and the buildings, well, we are done for the day. Exhausted.
• With a vehicle we will be able to pick up several survivors at a time and bring them to appointments, meetings, special events, and help get them out of their apartments to the countryside to see different and new things. We regularly need to deliver necessary items to them.
A little detail about the “what and how”. Here is what we are looking at:
• 2006-2008 used Ford Focus Station Wagon. Cost: $5,000
• Small cargo trailer: Cost: $750
Colder weather and rain has set in now that it’s Fall so we’re looking for a miracle! If you would like to contribute towards this need, please click on the link and make sure you notate that the funds are to go towards the purchase of a car for The Lev Project. Thank you so much!! If we could see you we would hug you!
THANKS FOR THIS INFO .. YOUR LETTERS ARE VERY GOOD …