The Blue Card Inc.

Help Holocaust Survivors in Need – NYC Marathon for The Blue Card

New York City has one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors in the world, yet more than one-third live below the poverty line, struggling to afford essentials like medical care, food, and housing.

This Fall I am running the 2025 New York City Marathon to raise funds for an incredible charity: The Blue Card. The Blue Card is a nonprofit dedicated to supporting New York based Holocaust survivors facing financial hardship. Since 1939, The Blue Card has provided critical assistance, including emergency financial relief, medical and dental care, mental health support, rent aid, and programs to combat loneliness.

Many survivors endured unimaginable horrors in their youth—now, in their final years, they shouldn’t have to choose between buying food and filling a prescription. Your donation will help The Blue Card provide the following:

• Emergency financial aid for rent, utilities, and food
• Medical and dental care not covered by insurance
• Assistance for life-saving medications
• Mental health services tailored to survivors’ needs
• Programs to combat isolation, including birthday gifts, social outings, and companion pets

Every step I take in this marathon is dedicated to ensuring those who suffered and survived humanity’s most evil moment live out the remainder of their lives with dignity.

With your help I can make a difference – every dollar counts.

Help Team Blue Card aid Holocaust survivors in need!

Team Blue Card is the Sports Endurance Team that raises funds for The Blue Card, a national non-profit organization whose sole purpose is providing direct and ongoing financial assistance to needy Holocaust survivors in the United States. The Blue Card is unique in that it provides long-term ongoing support and emergency grants to Holocaust survivors who are falling into increasingly poorer health as their need for financial assistance grows. Help is given in the form of cash grants issued directly to the client or to the provider of vital goods and services. These grants are made for basic human needs like food, health care, dental care, crisis and ongoing psychotherapy, health insurance, prescription drugs, personal emergency response system, housing, transportation, and various one-time emergencies. Being on Team Blue Card gives one the opportunity to make a real difference in not only one’s own life but also the lives of many local Holocaust survivors living.  For every dollar Team Blue Card raises, it gives us, The Blue Card, the opportunity to help more and more survivors in need.

Hi! My name is Eli Kalimian.

I am sending you this email because I would love your help in supporting Holocaust surviviors who are living under the poverty line.

Any money that you give will go directly to The Blue Card which is a charity that provides much needed goods and services to holocaust survivors who struggle to pay for food and healthcare. In fact, more than half of the survivors fall 200% below the poverty line. And, because they are an older population between the ages of 75-102 they cannot help themselves . They need our help.

I am doing this as part of my mitzvah project. While I am going to raise as much money as I can I will also be joining an event where I will be serving 85 holocaust survivors lunch March 18th. I am excited to show them my support via The Blue Card as well as in person.

Please help me by donating to help this important organization which serves a population that has already endured so much.

I cannot thank you enough for your support.

Thank YOU!!! Eli

P.S. You can see by my photo that I am running to help as fast as I can!

2-July-2015 UPDATE: We are humbled by everyone's support, and having reached our $1,000 goal we are upping the anti and doubling our goal! Please spread the word and help us fund this incredible charity. If we meet the new $2,000 goal, Kate Secor will be posting video of taunting us with donuts during our challenge :)

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Gian-Paolo Musumeci, Andrew Payne, and Sharon Paisner will attempt their Sufferlandrian Knighthood on 3 July 2015. This is a daring feat, which we each understand we may not survive... certainly not as the people we are today. To gain our Knighthoods, we'll spend 11+ hours in the saddle of our stationary trainers, testing the limits of our cycling endurance.

For further information regarding the requirements for Sufferlandrian Knighthood, see here: http://www.thesufferfest.com/sufferlandrian-community/knights-of-sufferlandria/

To keep ourselves honest and provide ample motivation to make it through to the end, we are raising money for The Blue Card charity, which helps survivors of The Holocaust. For further information regarding The Blue Card, see here: http://www.bluecardfund.org/

Please help us support this worthy charity as we torture ourselves on our bicycles!


Thank you,
GP, Andrew, and Sharon