Personalized Purim Gifts For 40,000 Children

An enormous outreach project led by Chabad-Lubavitch representative and Chief Rabbi of Odessa, Ukraine, Rabbi Avraham Wolf, will give 40,000 Jewish children in the region good reason to celebrate on Purim.

Each child will receive a personalized sweets gift package, thoughtfully packaged and presented to them in the tradition of mishloach manot—food gifts—that are exchanged on the holiday of Purim.

The project is sponsored by Mr. Alexander Gronovsky, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, and is coordinated by the Federation of Jewish Communities and Mr. Lev Leviev. A fleet of trucks will make their way through all the major cities and numerous small and isolated villages to deliver the gift packages to the children, in time for Purim. The gift packages include hamantashen, groggers and Purim literature as well as an assortment of kosher goodies.

“This year, 40,000 Jewish children in this area will celebrate the joy of Purim in the traditional spirit of the holiday,” says Rabbi Mayer Stambler of the Federation who was instrumental in facilitating the project. “These Purim packages are personalized with the name of each child receiving it. That tells them that they count, and that we want them to participate in the joy of Purim.”