Over 4,000 bags of essential supplies for impoverished Jews in Eastern Europe have been collected through World Jewish Relief’s Operation Winter Survival campaign.
Donations of warm clothes, toiletries and nappies have come from families, shuls, schools and cheders.
Finchley Reform congregant Debra Brunner recently went to Belarus to help distribute WJR bags to clients such as Marina, a 43-year-old woman living with her husband and two children in a cramped two-bedroom flat.
Facing daily choices between buying medicine or food for her children, Marina feared how she was going to look after her family in the winter, which brings temperatures of minus 20 degrees.
“When you witness the joy and happiness that a winter jacket or a pair of gloves can bring to a family it makes you want to keep donating and helping to provide to those less fortunate than yourself,” Ms Brunner said.