Eyeglasses held together by string, wire, and rubber bands with original prescription, given to JDC in 1991

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) returned to the Soviet Union in 1989, after a 50-year absence. The economic dislocations of the post-glasnost era left elderly living in a precarious situation, many of them living without sufficient resources for basic needs. To help alleviate the economic strains, JDC initiated a welfare program and established Hesed welfare centers, where the needs of impoverished, elderly Jews could be met, with food, medicine and home care provided, and winter relief distributed. In 1990, JDC staff visited a Jew in Samara, Russia, a city whose inhabitants faced travel and residency restrictions under the Soviet Union. There, he met Misha, a JDC Hesed client, who was wearing these eyeglasses, received after serving in the Red Army faithfully during World War II. Held together by tape and rubber bands, they contained the original prescription, as Misha did not have the equivalent of six cents to replace them throughout the years. The Hesed saw to it that Misha’s glasses were replaced in 1991.