Toni Pollin

Today, June 24th, 2025, I arrived in Poland to participate, for the 3rd time, in the Ride for the Living.  I arrived from Chicago, where I spent this past weekend at a Pollin family reunion as well as a professional conference.  I first joined the ride in 2023, inspired by my colleagues Dr. Robert and Anna Reed, who raised funds from over 800 friends to bring doctors and medical equipment to the Ukraine-Poland border shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.  Anna had emigrated from Poland as a child and felt profoundly moved to pay forward the kindness shown to her during this strange and difficult time in her life.  They have also ended up partnering with the JCC Krakow in their incredible humanitarian efforts described below, and it was through them that I leaned about the RFTL.

The Pollin Family Reunion 2025 was a joyous gathering of numerous descendants of the eight children Avrum and Chaya Polinofsky, changed to Pollin in the United States, perhaps at Ellis Island or perhaps what Dara Horn has described:  Jews changed their surnames legally after facing job and housing discrimination and invented the Ellis island myth to preserve the gift to their descendants of feeling welcome here.  My grandfather, Jack Polinofsky/Pollin, was the first to arrive in Chicago, in 1909, and the remaining siblings along with their widowed mother Chaya soon followed, mostly notably Chaya bringing the five youngest as adolescents on her own.

For a long time I have been awestruck by the incredible fortitude shown by my ancestors departing the known for the unknown and the gift of beautiful lives they made possible for their over 100 descendants, by the families of all four of my grandparents including Jack.  And this year, through my cousin Helaine making a connection on 23&Me, we met, partied with, and learned so much from a new cousin and his family.  This cousin's great grandfather Duvid’s family stayed in Russia in large part because they were prosperous.  This prosperity enabled them to provide the funds needed for Chaya and her descendants to sail to the United States and also meant that many of his descendants perished in the Holocaust.  

As I cycle back in time and place from Chicago to Auschwitz to Kraków, where the Jewish community is amazingly regrowing, I invite you to support the amazing work of the JCC Kraków for the Jewish community and way, way, beyond.  

On June 27th, I will join dozens of others to bicycle 60 miles from Auschwitz-Birkenau
to JCC Krakow during the 2025 Ride For The Living.
 

This year’s ride is taking place at an extraordinary moment in history with continued hostilities in Ukraine and Israel and an increased need to combat antisemitism in our own communities.

And yet, thousands of miles away from us, there is a thriving Jewish community in Krakow, right in the shadow of one of the biggest atrocities in human history. 
Today, JCC Krakow is a beacon of hope, reconnecting Jews to their culture and community.
I am so incredibly excited to support this organization as I embark on the
10th Annual Ride For The Living!

Money raised during Ride For The Living will provide necessary support to the Jewish Community Center of Krakow, which serves as the focal point for the revival of Jewish life in Poland.
With over 1,100 Jewish members, including a Senior Club with
60 Holocaust survivors, a Hillel with almost 70 members, and the FRAJDA Preschool & Nursery, Krakow’s Jewish community is flourishing.

Additionally, in the last three years, JCC Krakow has been a key partner in providing humanitarian assistance to over 400,000 Ukrainians, 98% of whom are not Jewish and hundreds of displaced Israelis after October 7 attacks.

I hope you will consider helping make a difference in the lives of hundreds of Jews in Krakow who deserve the opportunity to flourish in a vibrant, welcoming, and modern Jewish community.