Runners ran and walkers walked for the cause of supporting South Florida Holocaust survivors at the Miami Marathon this year.
For approximately a decade, Jewish Community Services of South Florida’s JCS Alliance, the organization’s young professionals group, has teamed up with The Blue Card, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to providing ongoing, direct financial aid and support for Holocaust survivors in the United States, for the JCS Alliance Team Blue Card for the annual marathon.
Since the JCS Alliance Team Blue Card has been an official charity partner of the Miami Marathon, it has raised more than $300,000 for needy Holocaust survivors over the years. More than $40,000 has so far been raised this year at press time.
Miriam Singer, president and CEO of JCS, which serves more than 550 Holocaust survivors throughout Miami-Dade County, said, “This year was extra special, as we were privileged to add two Holocaust survivors to our team, Saul [Blau] and Lazslo [Selly].”
“Each year, we are awestruck by our team’s compassionate, generous nature, and their caring hearts,” Singer continued. “Our team trains for the marathon for months on end, and calls upon their personal networks to help support our survivors as they age, leading us to raise over $40,000 this year. We are endlessly grateful for their efforts, and could not be prouder of all they have achieved.”
This year, participants took part in the marathon at its live event in Downtown Miami, or virtually.
Ari Sasson, who has been one of the JCS Alliance Team Blue Card chairs for the last five years, including this year, and also serves as co-chair for the JCS Alliance, said regarding this year’s results, “We are so thrilled to have had 23 runners/walkers, including two of our very own Holocaust survivors that are supported by JCS.”
“To see that we had 15 individual fundraisers raising critical funds for our survivors is tremendous,” he said. “I am constantly in awe of how our community rallies together, particularly during the last few years of such unpredictability and challenges. Our team even had a tent at the race to engage with our runners and others who were at the marathon on Feb. 6. I am so proud of the overall commitment and success of our team.”
Adam Schwartzbaum, an attorney who founded this effort 10 years ago and who ran in the marathon at Downtown Miami this year, said he participates in it every year he can. He also noted that has also raised money every year.
“It’s one of the greatest joys and one of the greatest honors of my life to help lead this effort,” Schwartzbaum said.
Schwartzbaum was inspired to start this effort by Holocaust survivors who he was doing pro bono legal work for at his law firm. He learned that in several instances, that The Blue Card was their only financial support they had other than government assistance.
“Around that same period, my mother [Bonnie Schwartzbaum], who is the director of the Kosher Food Bank for Jewish Community Services, approached me and asked me if I would be interested in starting a team to raise money for JCS as I have been running for several years,” he said. “I told her that a cause I really cared about most was helping Holocaust survivors living in poverty, and I asked her if there was some way we could do something with JCS to support survivors.”
Schwartzbaum then found out that JCS is a local agency partner for the Blue Card, and they partnered together for the annual event.
Helen Sachs Chaset, the daughter of Holocaust survivors and a JCS board member who has participated in the event for nine years, this year walking virtually at a remote location with Blau and Selly, said, “When I started participating in this, both my parents were still living.”
“They were beneficiaries of JCS assistance,” she said. “I I know that there were plenty of survivors who were living on a fixed income and in some cases, living in poverty. This kind of fundraising is necessary, so my parents encouraged me. I actually thought of them most of the way during the walk. I thought about the death marches they were on and how much they endured, so it was really in honor of them.”
In years past, before the race, the team would meet for dinner with a Holocaust survivor who shares his or her story. For the past two years, this meeting has been done virtually due to COVID-19 concerns. Both Selly and Blau presented their stories in a video before this year’s marathon.
Chaset said about the two survivors, “They’re great guys and I’m very honored to know them and their stories because I will continue to share their stories along with the stories of my parents.”
Selly of Aventura said it was a great experience to walk with Chaset.
“I know her very well,” he said. “We went together on the March of the Living a few years ago, and we’ve been in touch with each other ever since.”
Blau of Miami Beach said, regarding his walk with Chaset, “I happened to know her mother and father.”
“I met them at social occasions and also on some Holocaust-related functions,” he said. “I knew who she was, and I was pleased to walk with her. It was very pleasant company to walk with.”
Visit for information on the fundraiser and to make a donation. There’s a 10-1 match from the Claims Conference for every dollar donated to the cause.
