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AJWS Staff


Nepal Can Recover, But Only If We Change What Is Happening

Originally published in The Huffington Post.   I lived in a tent in Nepal as a refugee from Bhutan in the 1990s. And so it broke my heart this month, when I traveled to Nepal in the wake of the recent earthquake and witnessed Nepalese families living in a sea of plastic tents, much like …

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On the Ground in Nepal: 4th Update from AJWS Staff

AJWS’s Director of Disaster Response & International Operations, Samantha Wolthuis, and Associate Director of Risk Management and Administrative Services, Aaron Acharya, traveled to Nepal last week to lead AJWS’s response to the earthquake. This is the fourth on-the-ground update from Samantha and Aaron. Read their first, second, and third updates. Yesterday, we headed east to the Kavrepalanchok district, …

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Nursery school students help repair the world

Our President Ruth Messinger met with some adorable, charitable four-year-old students at the JCC Manhattan’s Nursery School this morning to thank them for their generous contribution to our Nepal Earthquake Emergency Relief Fund. The students organized a bake sale last week after learning about the devastating Nepal earthquake, raising more than $1,000 for our Nepal Fund! The students …

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On the Ground in Nepal: 3rd Update from AJWS Staff

AJWS’s former Director of Disaster Response & International Operations, Samantha Wolthuis, and former Associate Director of Risk Management and Administrative Services, Aaron Acharya, were in Nepal leading AJWS’s earthquake response. This is the third on-the-ground update from Samantha and Aaron. Read their first update here and their second update here. Aaron wrote the update below after …

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On the Ground in Nepal: 2nd Update from AJWS Staff

AJWS’s Director of Disaster Response & International Operations, Samantha Wolthuis, and Associate Director of Risk Management and Administrative Services, Aaron Acharya, are in Nepal this week leading our response to the earthquake. This is the second on-the-ground update from Samantha and Aaron. Read their first update here. Today, Aaron and I went on a site …

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Media Advisory: New US Special Envoy for LGBT Persons will join Ugandan Human Rights Advocate to Speak at National Policy Summit for American Jewish World Service

Washington, D.C. – Randy Berry, newly appointed as the first ever U.S. State Dept. Special Envoy for the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) persons, will speak at the American Jewish World Service (AJWS) Policy Summit on Tuesday, May 12, 2015, in Washington, D.C. Berry will be joined by Dr. Hilda Tadria, founder and current executive director of the Mentoring and Empowerment Program for Young Women (MEMPROW).

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nepal earthquake

On the Ground in Nepal: 1st Update from AJWS Staff

It has now been 10 days since Nepal was struck by the deadliest earthquake to hit the country since 1934. The death toll has exceeded 7,500 and the United Nations reports that millions are affected. AJWS set up our Earthquake Emergency Relief Fund within hours of the earthquake and we’re providing immediate support and humanitarian relief to six organizations …

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Children Respond to the Crisis in Nepal

We launched our Nepal Earthquake Emergency Relief Fund on the day the quake hit, and AJWS supporters of all ages immediately responded with a generous outpouring of donations, some with notes and tributes. One of the most moving of all the responses came from the three children of Rabbi Sharon Brous, a member of AJWS’s …

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AJWS Responds to the Earthquake in Nepal

The devastation of last Saturday’s earthquake in Nepal is just beginning to sink in. The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25th was the worst quake to hit the country since 1934. Eyewitnesses report that historic buildings, including seven major temples, have been destroyed near Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, and the force of the quake …

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