Some very special gifts are making their way to Odessa, Ukraine, for children in Chabad’s Mishpacha orphanage, thanks to the efforts of a group of women in New Jersey.

About 60 women gathered recently for an annual event hosted by community member Renata Magurdumov, in conjunction with Chabad Lubavitch of Western Monmouth County in Manalapan, N.J. They caught up with old friends and met new ones over light kosher fare on a late-summer evening.

But this year’s event—the fourth one that Magurdumov has hosted—had an added element to it. Each woman fashioned two hair bows for an orphan girl: one for everyday use and one for the High Holidays. And for the boys: kipahs.

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Magurdumov’s 9-year-old daughter Ava spoke about her love of bows and their popularity at her school. “She was saying how they make her feel good and special, and how she wants [the girls there] to feel loved and special when they put them on.” Not to be outdone, Magurdumov’s 12-year-old son Brandon designed a greeting card—to be sent with the bows and signed by the women—showing how Jewish kids around the world are all connected through their common heritage: the Torah.

‘A Unified Feeling’

In a way, it’s all come full-circle.

In 1989, when she was 10 years old, Magurdumov left Odessa for Brooklyn, N.Y., with her parents and sister, her uncle’s family and her grandparents. They joined thousands of other families in search of better lives outside the Soviet Union and opportunities to express their Judaism. “When I left, I didn’t know I was Jewish or what that meant,” she says, adding how impressed she is by the active Jewish community there today.

Bows for the girls
Bows for the girls

The plan to send bows and kipahs for the 80 or so children in the orphanage came together while on a visit to the Ohel in Queens, N.Y.—the resting place of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—with Tova Chazanow, co-director of Chabad of Western Monmouth County.

Their conversation turned to finding a way to make an annual August poolside party into a good deed—a way to make a difference, says Chazanow, co-director of Chabad Lubavitch of Western Monmouth County. “The inspiration came when we left the Ohel, but we didn’t know how we would channel it,” she recalls. “As a Chabad emissary, I always think, ‘How can we touch people?’ But really, the way to touch people is by letting them touch each other.”

The event promoted the idea that everyone can do something to make a difference, and that by working together, people can create miracles, says Chazanow: “It was such a unified, strong feeling, where Jewish women in New Jersey as a group could help others less fortunate.”

Renata Magurdumov, who left Odessa as a child, and her family. She and her children, Ava and Brandon, spearheaded the effort to send gifts and cards to the kids.
Renata Magurdumov, who left Odessa as a child, and her family. She and her children, Ava and Brandon, spearheaded the effort to send gifts and cards to the kids.

‘Boosts Their Spirits’

Rabbi Shmulik Greenberg, director of development for the orphanage, was thrilled to receive a message from Magurdumov about gifts for the kids. He sent her a list with a breakdown of the children’s ages, and the project grew. The older girls also got Shabbat makeup and nail polish; the slightly younger girls received school kits; and for the boys were flashlights and reading lights.

“When the children receive these types of gifts and know it’s coming from America, they realize they have friends all over the world,” says the rabbi. “When they realize people care about them and love them, they realize they’re part of a much larger family. It really boosts their spirits and makes them very happy.”

The gifts all packaged up; they left for Odessa on Sunday.
The gifts all packaged up; they left for Odessa on Sunday.

The event also led to donations from around the area. Others got wind of the project and offered to contribute; a total of $1,300 was raised.

A Facebook post about the event started to draw attention from others wanting to get involved with sending supplies to the children, too. “A lot of people started asking me, ‘Can we send them clothes, where can we donate?” she says. That discussion is in the works. “People want to do more.”

All of these efforts, Greenberg says, has created “such a nice buzz about it,” about the work they do helping kids. On Sunday, he left the United States with the packages in tow to give to the children in Ukraine.

Handmade New Year’s cards, showing Jewish kids worldwide connected by Torah.
Handmade New Year’s cards, showing Jewish kids worldwide connected by Torah.

Greenberg and his wife, Chaya, along with their two young children moved to Odessa less than a year ago to help raise awareness about the orphanage. He currently joins 10 other rabbis in the nation’s third most populous city, a transportation hub that lies on the Black Sea. Rabbi Avraham Wolff, chief rabbi and director of the Jewish Community of Odessa and Southern Ukraine, runs the orphanage.

Until about two years ago, notes Greenberg, it was funded locally, but support has dropped dramatically. Odessa had been a tourist city where visitors came and money flowed. Since the worldwide economic crisis in 2008, everything slowed; still, the budget was being covered.

However, when war with pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east began in 2014, the orphanage started going into debt. “Since then, the economy has been in shambles,” he says. “We’re back to square one.”

The orphanage takes care of the children up until they are 18; then many of them go to Israel. But it continues to help its charges later on, for example, when it comes to their weddings.

Rabbi Avraham Wolff, left, chief rabbi and director of the Jewish Community of Odessa and Southern Ukraine, holds an “upshernin” (a hair-cutting ceremony for 3-year-old boys). At right is Rabbi Shmulik Greenberg, director of development for the orphanage.
Rabbi Avraham Wolff, left, chief rabbi and director of the Jewish Community of Odessa and Southern Ukraine, holds an “upshernin” (a hair-cutting ceremony for 3-year-old boys). At right is Rabbi Shmulik Greenberg, director of development for the orphanage.
Teaching about the lighting of Shabbat and Jewish holiday candles.
Teaching about the lighting of Shabbat and Jewish holiday candles.

Future Projects in the Works

Merri Cohen of Marlboro, N.J., who attended the event with one of her longtime friends, says she was struck by a speech Magurdumov gave about the event, Odessa, and what Chabad means to her and her family. “You could tell how important it was to her kids,” says Cohen. “I thought that was so nice to have the kids really want to help out.”

The group of women has created a hashtag (#ItStartedWithBows) to draw more attention to the cause online.

“Something that seemed so simple could mean so much, and lead to other people to finding out about the orphanage and wanting to help it,” she says. “Something that started out so small snowballed into something bigger.”

As for next year’s event, Magurdumov acknowledges that they have started something new—and that it’s a game-changer. “We used to make arts-and-crafts projects for ourselves. But once you do something nice for somebody else, you can’t go back. It adds purpose to what we do.”

About 80 or so children live in the orphanage, which has struggled financially because of the ongoing economic and political crisis in Ukraine.
About 80 or so children live in the orphanage, which has struggled financially because of the ongoing economic and political crisis in Ukraine.
Chabad’s Mishpacha orphanage in Odessa
Chabad’s Mishpacha orphanage in Odessa