The United States is home to the largest Jewish community outside of Israel, including many who escaped Nazi terror and still more who are Holocaust survivors. From its start in the United States, ARSP sought to reach out to the Jewish community. Volunteers initially worked at camps for children from indigent families, community centers in urban ghettos, halfway houses, camps of migrant workers, and on Indian reservations. It wasn't until the spring of 1979 that the first volunteer was invited to work with a Jewish agency, the Anti- Defamation League of B'nai B'rith in New York City. Since then ARSP has increased its presence in the American Jewish community.
Volunteers now work in cooperation with a number of Jewish agencies.
Not only do the volunteers give concrete assistance, they also make other, less tangible, contributions. This is a very special opportunity, especially now that the survivors are getting older. Healing wounds and building bridges present difficult challenges, and Jewish administrators who work with the volunteers praise them highly for their efforts. Misha Avramoff, co-director of Project EZRA in New York City, an agency that helps elderly Jews on the Lower East Side, recalls the obstacles faced by the first ARSP volunteer who started his service in 1984. Nevertheless, the young volunteer set out purposefully, going to tenements and housing projects to give solace to the very old.