Stories, Insights, and Updates About Our Mission

A short film about the 120 children who are enjoying camp Yeka in Ukraine, run by dedicated volunteer counselors who raised the funds themselves for this extraordinary experience.

When shells began exploding in Dnipro, Ukraine, Chabad’s local Mironova Boys’ School for Orphans decided it was time to leave.

This summer, Camp Yeka provided a life changing Jewish camp experience for over 90 disadvantaged Jewish boys from Ukraine, offering them a much-needed break from the harsh realities of war.

The largest of these camps, held in Dnipro, hosted more than four hundred family members.

Amidst the backdrop of the heaviest bombardment since the onset of the war, a group of Chabad Bochurim returned to Ukraine to run Camp Yeka's winter program on the outskirts of Kiev, providing much-needed respite to young Jewish underprivileged children affected by the war.

While therapeutic healing remains central, the camps also strive to provide a semblance of typical summer fun.

Nothing can get in their way: For the first time since the outbreak of the war, in partnership with Jewish Relief Network Ukraine (JRNU), Camp Yeka officially returned home for the summer, welcoming over 100 Jewish children from all corners of the country to bring joy and Judaism to their lives. One camper said: "The most special moment for me was the first Shabbos I kept in my life.”

Yeka boys counselors daven at the Ohel as they embark on a 72-hour journey into Ukraine to make the Rebbe’s camp happen for 120 children stuck in cities affected by war.

Camp Yeka has this year moved to Hungary and Israel with the help of global support including from the Brondesbury Park community and the son of the community's senior rabbi

Young men and women from Camp Yeka quit jobs, fly to Europe to locate hundreds of children, sending money, love, and a path to safety

After an inspiring 8 days in Yeka winter camp in Ukraine, one camper underwent a bris milah and requested the name Yosef Yitzchak; he later explained why.

Partnering with a local Jewish organization, Camp Gan Israel Yeka sees a bright future

Pretending their families are safe at home, for a brief month Jewish kids in Ukraine get to behave like children

Chaim Leiter of Camp Yeka writes about the impact that 19 bochurim had on 100 children from the former Soviet Union.