To be a responsible steward of our community’s financial donations, Yad Yehuda partners with other local organizations to ensure that clients’ needs are met by the organization best-suited to address those needs. Hebrew Free Loan Association is one such partner. Led by Shuli Tropp, HFL helps individuals in need of loans.
Hi, I’m Shuli Tropp, Executive Director of the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Greater Washington, and I live in Kemp Mill. I’ve been here for about 13 years and I’ve been involved in the Jewish community during that time in different ways.
I’ve been at Hebrew Free Loan for just over five years and Yad Yehuda has been such a valuable ally during that time. Our partnership has grown over the years; I anticipate and hope it will grow even more in the future.
When Hebrew Free Loan or Yad Yehuda meets with someone, we each know that we have partners who can offer additional services that we may not be able to directly provide. Sometimes someone comes to HFL for a loan and perhaps a loan is the right answer — and maybe it’s not. I know that there are so many amazing community resources that can help support this person when a loan isn’t the right thing at that moment.
Even if a loan is right for the situation, they must have the resources to repay that loan. So we look at the person’s finances and help them think, “Can I repay this loan?” A loan will help them in the long run — but only if it won’t make their situation worse. Frequently, the reason people can pay back a loan is that Yad Yehuda is there holding them up: making sure they don’t have to worry about their next meal. Whether it’s visits to the food pantry or Tomchei Shabbos gift cards, there are so many resources to help keep people secure. That lets them achieve the financial stability that Hebrew Free Loan is there to help them reach. It’s a special partnership and so beautiful that we can do this together…and it’s so very important for our entire community to support these local chesed needs.
Often we walk down the street, go to shul, eat at a kiddush, or sit in a carpool line — and have no idea about the struggles of the person sitting next to us. We don’t want to know about their challenges and, of course, they don’t want us to know, either. I’ve learned in the past five years that people have many more financial challenges than we see on the surface — and organizations like Yad Yehuda, Hebrew Free Loan, and others ensure that they can continue to hold their head up high, feel dignified and proud, go grocery shopping, buy their children new clothes, and let their kids play on the sports teams they want to be on. It’s all because of the work of Yad Yehuda, Tomchei Shabbos, and other programs that help ensure that we can all live with dignity in our own community.
It is very important to support the global Jewish community at this time — but we have to stay focused on local needs too. There are a lot of needs right here at home and sometimes we don’t see them in the same way. But they are here and they need our love and our financial support.
When I’m talking to someone about their monthly budget (something I discuss with almost every Hebrew Free Loan applicant), they must help us understand where their money is coming from and how it’s going out. We want people to end the month in the black, not in more debt than when they started. I hear from so many people that Tomchei Shabbos makes a huge difference, changing their monthly trajectory and ensuring that they can balance their budget. People want to shop for the foods their children like, the foods they appreciate — and Tomchei Shabbos allows them to keep that dignity and balance their budget.
I feel so much genuine gratitude to work in a community with a beautiful, strong, and well-developed infrastructure to help people— and to do so with dignity in everything we do. Hebrew Free Loan is so much more successful because of the work of Yad Yehuda. It’s a symbiotic relationship and our greater Washington Jewish community is so much stronger because of Yad Yehuda and Tomchei Shabbos.
