{"id":396289,"date":"2026-09-10T22:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T22:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/396289\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T22:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T22:50:10","slug":"budget-leaves-out-holocaust-survivor-services-in-orlando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/396289\/","title":{"rendered":"Budget leaves out Holocaust survivor services in Orlando"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando<\/a> is raising money to continue its Holocaust Survivors Assistance Program after state funding for the Central Florida service was not included in this year\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n

The program serves 26 Holocaust survivors in Central Florida. It received $250,000 from the state in 2024 and $300,000 in 2025, but received no state funding this year.<\/p>\n

Lydia Brodsky, 87, is one of the survivors who receives services through the program. Born in Ukraine, Brodsky said her family fled after Germans invaded and the city was bombed and demolished.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a terrible time; hunger, illnesses, everything that goes with it,\u201d Brodsky said.<\/p>\n

Brodsky said family members were killed in gas chambers, and her father was killed while fighting in the war. She said hunger is one memory that has stayed with her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is hunger, that is what I really remember, begging for a piece of bread and didn\u2019t understand how difficult it was for my mother,\u201d Brodsky said.<\/p>\n

Brodsky has lived in the United States for half a century. As she has gotten older, she said she needs more help with daily needs, including food, medicine, transportation to appointments, and help around the house.<\/p>\n

Kimberly Carlson, a case manager for the Holocaust Survivor Assistance Program, said the program helps remove barriers for survivors.<\/p>\n

\u201cHealthcare, medical equipment, prescription assistance, food, transportation, counseling, Rabbi visits, just so many things,\u201d Carlson said.<\/p>\n

Carlson said medical assistance is one of the most common requests, and she works to connect survivors with help.<\/p>\n

\u201cTruly every request that comes through, I am putting it through as many people as possible,\u201d Carlson said.<\/p>\n

Chris Carmody, a lawyer and lobbyist with GrayRobinson, said the process to secure state funding is competitive. He said there are upward of 2,500 applications to the Legislature, and about 200 to 300 projects receive money. Carmody said about five of the funded projects were for Jewish services.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there is any pushback or any reason why it not getting funded,\u201d Carmody said. \u201cI think it is a matter of resources and just making sure it stays top priority for folks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carmody said he hopes that new leaders after this year\u2019s election will see it with fresh eyes and help move funding forward next year.<\/p>\n

Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando is asking people who know a Holocaust survivor in need to reach out to get connected with services. The organization is also accepting donations to support the Holocaust Survivors Assistance Program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando is raising money to continue its Holocaust Survivors Assistance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[115,1335,139,141,140,9429],"class_list":["post-396289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-sarah-winkelmann"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}