Two hundred and fifty Jewish families are left destitute by the fire which destroyed four squares of property and caused damage at Coney Island estimated at several millions of dollars, it was learned today.
The majority of these Jewish sufferers have lost both their homes and their places of business. Aid is being extended to them by shop keepers more fortunate than themselves, Jewish restaurants, dairies, bakeries and individuals.
The National War Veterans Association, Kings County Division, 16th Assembly District branch, has undertaken the only organized aid which is being extended to the Jewish sufferers.
Abraham Goldberg, commander of the Association, and his wife, who is president of the Ladies Auxiliary, have been working without rest since the fire started on Wednesday afternoon.
No relief organization has as yet offered aid, and a serious problem is presented as to what is to be done to aid these people in the future, it is said.
The sufferers are being housed in the Knights of Pythias Temple. Many of the older Jewish people, it was learned, have refused to take food until convinced that it was kosher.
Members of the Veterans association have conducted a house to house canvass to secure clothing and bed linen. One of the rooms in the Temple has been converted into an emergency hospital where a volunteer nurse is on duty. Because of the fact that the Coney Island and Harbor Hospitals are taxed to capacity, internes from the Coney Island Hospital have been sent to the improvised hospital to extend aid to the sufferers.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
