(Courtesy of HBFA) New York-based Hebrew Free Burial Association announced its annual “Report to the Community,” an Elul-to-Elul recap of free and low-cost burials performed at Mount Richmond Cemetery on Staten Island.

From Elul 1, 5783, to Elul 1, 5784, the 136-year-old nonprofit handled burial and funeral arrangements for 341 Jews.

HFBA provides a traditional funeral for every Jew, regardless of ability to pay. The lion’s share of interments include people who die without the financial means to pay. Other burials are performed for people who die after decades of mental illness or who have no community or synagogue affiliation. A significant number are for Jews who would be cremated or buried in a mass grave if not for HFBA’s advocacy.

As part of its report, HFBA shared a sampling of burials or funerals it undertook when nobody else stepped forward to ensure a Jewish burial. Among these:

Tammy W.,^* 61, died of a heart attack. HFBA learned of Tammy’s death from the director of residential services at the Institute of Applied Human Dynamics, a New York-based organization serving people with cognitive disabilities. Tammy was born with Down syndrome and spent much of her early life in the notorious Willowbrook State School on Staten Island. In a quirk of fate, the facility to which Tammy was moved closed down late last year. Her uncle feared that the anxiety associated with Tammy’s last move may have precipitated her death. Tammy’s “personality all her own” drew eight loving group home residents and staff, as well as HFBA’s volunteer minyan to her funeral. One attendee was Tammy’s half-brother. The two had never met.

Isaac Z.,^* 71, died in a Brooklyn assisted living facility of a heart attack. While he was alive, Isaac’s sister Fay and her husband set up a pre-need arrangement with HFBA, and the care facility knew to call HFBA when Isaac died. In her graveside eulogy, Fay said her older brother had had a brilliant mind until he suffered a psychiatric break in his twenties. He’d been institutionalized for 30 years, but when he showed improvement, he was moved to the assisted living facility. From that point on, Isaac prayed, put on tefillin and studied Talmud every day until he died.

Grigori W.,^* 104, died of cardiac arrest. We learned of his death from his son, a Russian immigrant in his eighties. Grigori, a civil engineer in the USSR, arrived in the U.S. 30 years ago from Ukraine, but was unable to find work in his profession. The family got by on SSI, Medicaid and Section 8 housing. Fewer than 20 people, including Grigori’s wife, 101, and son attended the burial. HFBA worked with Grigori’s son to reserve graves for himself and his mother.

Marilyn N.,^* 79, was a theater director, actor and teacher who once taught at the Yale Drama School and NYC’s Neighborhood House. A Tel Aviv-based lighting designer and long-time friend told HFBA that Marilyn also established a traveling theater troupe that mounted productions based on classical drama and Commedia dell’arte. In the late 1980s, Marilyn fell on a loose pipe at a movie theater and herniated seven discs. She became too disabled to work but maintained friendships with friends and students. “Her strength of spirit, active mind, wide knowledge and kindness have been an inspiration to me,” her friend said. “She is sorely missed.”

“With ‘Report to the Community,’ we want to keep our community up to date about the work we do for the most vulnerable among us,” said Amy Koplow, HFBA executive director.

Help HFBA continue its mission by donating at www.hebrewfreeburial.org/donate.

^* All names are anonymized.