Struck by tragedy, 23-year-old Avigail was raising her three young sons—all below the age of 10—alone. Homeless, without job skills, and not even ten years of completed schooling, she was unable to fend for herself and her children.

Find out how JDC’s employment training program for disadvantaged Israeli women empowered this Kavkazi immigrant.

To survive Moldova’s harsh January snowstorms, Tatiana, 11, and her family of five huddle desperately around the sole gas stove in their dilapidated apartment. The family’s two-room home has no kitchen or bathroom, and is in an old Soviet-style building that has no electricity, running water, or heat.

Tatiana’s parents struggle to make ends meet on one income and the prospects of finding work during an economic slump in the poorest country in Europe seem dismal.

Learn how JDC’s winter relief assistance is ensuring this family—and thousands like them throughout the region—will make it through these hardest of times.

Fabienne, a Haitian 8th grader, dreams of becoming a doctor and helping her people. But her prospects for an education in Haiti—the poorest country in the western hemisphere, even prior to the devastating 2010 earthquake—were grim. She used to spend three hours every day just getting to and from her nearest school, leaving little time for homework or to just be a kid.

Today all that has changed. Find out how JDC’s new middle school in Zoranje is giving Fabienne and scores of Haiti’s teenagers hope for their future.

Read about JDC's disaster relief activities in Haiti and eJewish Philanthropy's coverage of our work two years on.

"Being Jewish in a country where almost no one knows who Jews are can be very difficult," says Meirah of Mumbai, "but my mom made sure we were always informed and were proud of our culture and tradition."

With that knowledge came an emphasis on responsibility and volunteerism from a young age. Find out how JDC's leadership training helped turn Meirah's cherished values into action and shape her into a dynamite community leader.