Facts and Figures   

Where and Whom We Help   

Facts and Figures

40% of the hungry we support are children and young people under 19 years! In total we handed out the amount of 9.170 vouchers to poor members of the Jewish community:	31% of these vouchers were used with the Zielpunkt- supermarket stores 69% of these vouchers were used directly with Ohel Rahel
Data received through the Social Committee of the IKG Vienna

We see our work as an example for pro-active help - a duty out of sympathy and given to those who really need it.

Here are two stories to show you how important our work is:

Where and Whom We Help

Case 1

Mrs. M. is 28 years old and used to work as a hair-dresser.

She got married young, - her husband does not have a proper education and so he only gets work which is not paid very well. Most of the time he has been working on construction sites or has had jobs working in wharehouses. A lot of times he simply was unemployed.

Mrs. M. worked at the hair-dressers’ until she had her two kids. After half a year at home with each child she always went straight back into her work to provide her family with the barely enough financial support she earned there.

After their third chld was born, their situation became more complicated by the fact that this baby was born with akathisia, and also has verbal and visual deficiencies. The baby needs to be looked after 24 hours a day and of course also needs special treatment. Mrs. M. could not start to work again after her maternity leave, because she now has to look after the baby. She also does not get any unemployment benfetis anymore.

Due to the extreme financial burden and the third baby’s disability the marriage was under such strain that the couple could not cope with the situation any longer – conflicts escalated and now Mrs. M. has to carry the responsibility for her kids on her own, because the husband left the family. She takes care of her children all by herself now, and does not receive any support by her husband with all the necessary medical checks for the baby or any other activities for the family.

Financially the family now survives on the family allowance and the monthly rates she gets from her husband. The vouchers Mrs. M. receives from Ohel Rahel provide at least enough food for her and the kids.

Case 2

Mr B. was still a child when he survived the Shoah. While his parents were deported to Buchenwald and to Dachau and got killed there, Mr. B. and his younger brother survived, because they were on one of the children’s transports to England in 1938.

Mr. B. has never been able to mentally handle the separation from his parents at this very young age, or to actually cope with their murder. He has been suffering from post-traumatic shock ever since, and he never finished his education. Also his marriage collapsed due to his problems of dealing with the family’s tragedy.

He lived in the UK up until 1990, then he decided to return to Austria, but never managed to integrate back into the society here. Apart from his mental problems he has also been suffering from an atypical form of Morbus-Parkinson-disease, which has a very severe impact on his daily life.

Today he lives a lonely, seclusive life in a little municipality flat.

Mr. B. does not have any family here in Austria, only his brother who lives over in England, is still alive. His only contact here in Austria are the people from ESRA.

Due to his live-long sickness Mr. B. has never been able to gain a decent retirement funding, he draws a minimal pension and gets financial aid in order to support his rent.

The food-vouchers he receives from Ohel Rahel allow him to buy enough food for himself, and this way also provide a solid enough financial ground to Mr. B., since he now has enough money for other charges.