Translated by Gloria Berkenstat Freund The charitable activities
of the Goniadzer in America began approximately 50 years ago. As
Avraham Warshah of Detroit reports, in 1908 the Goniadzer in
America collected the sum of 600 dollars and sent this to
Goniadz in order to found a loan and savings fund. They sent the
money to the rabbi and according to the Russian rate of exchange
it amounted to 1,200 rubles. The rabbi and the business owners
chose Pinkhas, the rabbi's son, as treasurer and director. Many
remember how Goniadzer Jews would go to borrow money without
interest. The bankl [small bank], that is what we called it,
existed until the First World War. The old Goniadzer in America
also cared for their landsleit [people from the same town] in
Goniadz. Immediately after the First World War, when no bank or
post office accepted any money for Poland, the Goniadzer and
Trestiner Young Men's Society sent out a special delegate,
Doctor Blum, to personally bring the money for the poor [Meirim
Rubin, see photo on pa