Meet 2 Florida locals raising money in 'Little Moscow' for Ukrainian refugees: 'The Russian Jewish community here is unequivocally in support of Ukraine'

• Two South Florida locals are gathering financial support for Ukrainian refugees in Moldova.
• The money helps the Jewish Community of Moldova buy food, clothing, and medicine for the refugees.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine four weeks ago, the small country of Moldova has welcomed thousands of Ukrainian refugees. That's a lot of people for one of Europe's poorest countries, which needs resources and money to accommodate them all.

Far away across the Atlantic Ocean, a South Florida community is helping out. Marsha Jaquays, director of Florida Friends of Israel's Laniado Hospital, and Emmanuil Grinshpun, the chairman of the board of trustees for the Jewish Community of Moldova and board member of Laniado Hospital, have been knocking on people's doors to raise money. It's a humanitarian effort they want to carry out on behalf of their ancestors.

"Jews know the persecution of genocide," Jaquays told Insider. "We will not allow history to repeat itself."

The Jewish Community of Moldova has been helping to buy food and provide shelter for the Ukrainian refugees flooding into the country, Grinshpun told Insider. He said they've assisted 15,000 Jewish refugees so far, as well as those who aren't Jewish.

"We are doing everything we can to help our Ukrainian people during these difficult times," he added.

That involves gathering American support in Sunny Isles Beach, which Jaquays says is the heart of the Russian Jewish community in Florida and has a sister partnership with the city of Netanya, Israel, where the Laniado hospital is located. So far, Grinshpun and Jaquays' grassroots efforts have mostly been spread through word of mouth, but they're hosting their first event, a solidarity rally, in Sunny Isles Beach on March 24. The town is also known as "Little Moscow" because of its large Russian population.

"The Russian Jewish community here is unequivocally in support of Ukraine, and they're devastated about what is happening," she said. "They want to do anything and everything to help."

It costs $50,000 a day to feed refugees in Moldova

The Ukrainian refugee crisis is taking a toll on Moldova's economy, costing the country $50,000 a day to feed them all, Jaquays said. That means what it needs the most is money.

Half of the refugees in Moldova plan to stay, Jaquays said, while the others want to leave. For the former group, Jaquays said the Jewish Community there is galvanizing to relocate them from temporary shelters to more permanent homes to make room for more refugees coming in.

"They don't have jobs," she said. "There is no way to get money out of Ukraine. The country is being bombed, so there's no banking system. So they have no assets, and we have to figure out how to take care of them."

There are also efforts to get the latter group to Romania because the Moldova airport is closed. From there, the refugees can head to Israel or other countries of their choice.

At the center of these efforts is Laniado Hospital, which is providing medical care to the Jewish refugees who arrive in Netanya. Jaquays said the Israeli government decided that they would settle refugees here because the city is home to a large Russian Jewish community, eradicating any language barrier. The hospital is also providing psychotrauma nurses on the ground in Moldova and collecting the donations that Grinshpun and and Jaquays are working to raise. The money is then transferred to Moldova within 24 to 48 hours, Jaquays said.

In addition to finances to support the operation, Grinshpun said they need US citizens to provide political support that would encourage the American government to issue some refugees visas so they can find refuge in the US.

Jaquays said a lot of the attention is directed toward the actual action in the war right now. But no one's "talking about what it's like to actually take care of the refugees, and once they're out, what happens."