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Watch a video presentation
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| Wipe Away Their Tears |
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....Story Continued
At the time, we were Shluchim living in New Haven, Connecticut. Throughout the ordeal, the members of our community rallied around us, providing us with hot dinners, baby-sitting, rides to the hospital, and anything else I could possibly need. My husband was inundated with offers of help. Though we are usually private people, and also independent, we gratefully accepted everyone's generosity and kindness. The stress on my children and husband was tremendous, and we wanted to ease that a little.
Aside from the community, and of course, my wonderful family all over the world, there was one organization whose assistance was crucial. How we found out about Rofeh Cholim Cancer Society was a small miracle, engineered by Hashem.
Rabbi Shlomo Roth, director of RCCS, approached a cousin of ours, a successful Shliach in the New York area, and asked for help in securing funding for the organization that is dedicated to ensuring that cancer patients have health insurance coverage for their treatments.
Our cousin agreed to put him in touch with some of his supporters, if he in turn would agree to help a fellow Shliach who was also a relative, whose wife was undergoing cancer treatment.
Rabbi Roth immediately agreed to look into our situation, and see if he could be of assistance. Forms were filled out, and even though we were paying our health insurance premiums at the time, RCCS stepped in and took over the monthly payments, which came to of over $800 a month. Freeing up this kind of money enabled us to hire a live-in housekeeper, who was able to look after my baby while taking care of the home. This really helped restore some semblance of normalcy for all of us.
Rabbi Roth and his wonderful organization continued to pay the premiums a full year after the treatment was finished. He told my husband, "RCCS will stop paying the premiums when you tell us you are ready to resume paying them yourself; not before." Needless to say, this offer helped us get back on our feet financially after a year of unexpected medical expenses.
Over the almost three years they helped us, RCCS paid over $30,000 in premiums to our insurance company.
Until today, I cannot get over the fact that there exists an organization, supported by strangers, that steps in and eases a family through what is probably the most terrifying journey they will ever have to undertake.
RCCS allowed us to focus on getting the best treatment, not on mounting medical bills. It allowed us to think about the path to recovery, not agonize over where we were going to find the money to pay for the expenses that were accruing at a terrifying rate. It allowed us to focus on our children and keep the family strong.
At the time, I told Rabbi Roth I would do what I could to help him and the RCCS. In the summer of 2004, I told my story on video for the organization. And today, when I was approached to write this letter, I knew there was no way I could refuse.
There are many other Chabad families around the world and in Crown Heights that have quietly benefited from the generosity of the RCCS. Now is the time for us, the Lubavitch community, to give back to this organization that embodies true Ahavas Yisroel.
RCCS has generously helps Jews from all walks of life overcome the challenges of illness, giving them the financial assistance to get back on their feet long after the last radiation treatment is over and, with Hashem’s help, successful.
I was gratified to hear that there will be an RCCS event taking place in Crown Heights. I wish I could be there to personally thank the wonderful people who make up this organization.
I hope that all of you will be there in my stead.
Your generosity will make a big difference in someone's life, as it has in mine.
Wishing you all a Kosher, Healthy and Freilich’n Pesach,
Sarah Alevsky
Plano, Texas
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