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Steve Zakusilo (Courtesy of JCFS)<\/p>\nSteve Zakusilo (Courtesy of JCFS)<\/p>\n
When asked what drives him to work with Holocaust survivors at Jewish Family and Children\u2019s Service of Greater Philadelphia, Steve Zakusilo said, \u201cit\u2019s a long story,\u201d but in short, it\u2019s his grandmother.<\/p>\n
Zakusilo was born and raised on the border of Ukraine under the former Soviet Union and Poland.<\/p>\n
The year the Soviet Union officially dissolved, Zakusilo was returning from a trip in the Netherlands. When he arrived, he was told his country no longer existed and his passport was no longer valid.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spent, on the border, 48 hours sitting in a big bus not knowing what was going to happen to the country that we left nine months ago,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
After being permitted to cross the border, Zakusilo said life in Ukraine was \u201cbrutal.\u201d He and his family stood in long lines to get food, and some days they didn\u2019t have anything to put on the table. He saw firsthand how the fallout affected the most vulnerable populations, and he thought of his grandmother.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy grandma, during World War II, was in Germany in a work camp, and seeing the full effect of system breakdown and everything that [was] going on, [I started] thinking about social work,\u201d Zakusilo said. \u201cOf course, there was no social work in Ukraine, the former Soviet Union.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zakusilo said that he and his grandmother were very close. \u201cI know her experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think she ever told us who she really was,\u201d he explained. \u201cWhen you grow up in [the] Soviet Union, you don\u2019t talk about those things. You have to hide your identity completely. People change their last names and you do everything that is possible [so as] not to have that yellow marker on your passport.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zakusilo\u2019s grandmother grew up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Ukraine. She was taken to Germany by the Nazis during World War II. After surviving the camp, Zakusilo noted she had the opportunity to go to America or Israel, but instead she returned to take care of her mother in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat drive [to] take care of your elders \u2026 that is Jewish-[centered] \u2026 It\u2019s fully embedded in me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In the late 1990s, when Zakusilo was in his early 20s, he and his family decided to move to the United States. \u201cI barely had a suitcase with me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Some of his first jobs in America were trading stocks on Wall Street in the corporate world, but he knew that wasn\u2019t what he wanted to do. He wanted to make a difference, and Zakusilo thought back to the idea of social work and working with older adults.<\/p>\n
He spent time researching different social work programs. In 2015, Zakusilo graduated summa cum laude from West Chester University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor\u2019s degree in social work. He then went on to complete his master\u2019s at Bryn Mawr College. Since then, he has been working for JFCS.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think [working at JFCS has been] the most meaningful decade in my life,\u201d said Zakusilo.
Today, Zakusilo is the program director of JFCS\u2019 Holocaust Survivor Support Program and describes his job as \u201cworking in a living museum.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you walk through [a] museum, you admire the painting or some kind of a sculpture. It doesn\u2019t talk back to you, but this museum actually gives you a narrative and gives you a story,\u201d he explained. \u201cThis [experience] is something that I don\u2019t think any other work [can give you]. JFCS gives us the tools and ability to make a difference, and resources and the community partners that we partner with, nationwide and local, gives [us] that ability to do a lot of good for a population who deserve the most.\u201d<\/p>\n
At JFCS, Zakusilo and his team serve roughly 500 clients annually, all of whom are Holocaust survivors, in and around Philadelphia, including Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester counties.<\/p>\n
He added that working with his clients is a privilege, not only to preserve their memory, but to learn from them, and the best way to do that is to create a connection.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have that personal connection with somebody who lived through this kind of experience, this is not like reading a book. It\u2019s not like reading a story or watching the movie. It\u2019s not even going to Auschwitz,\u201d Zakusilo explained. \u201cI think it\u2019s deeper \u2026 that connection stays with you.\u201d<\/p>\n