Manny Klein holds his father, Shmuel Mair Klein, z”l, born and raised in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in highest esteem. In an amazing show of this reverence, Manny a Teaneck resident today, and his younger brother Simon teamed up for ‘My Extended Family,’ raising almost $122,000 in this year’s Purim campaign.

Shmuel Mair Klein met and married his wife, who was from Ukraine, in 1980. In 1988, with six children, his wife became ill, leaving the care of the family to Shmuel Mair. Unable to manage, he turned to the foster care and adoption system.

Manny Klein’s paternal grandmother was related to Rabbi Teitelbaum of the Satmar Chasidim, and his grandfather was a Holocaust survivor. “Regardless of his tough life, he always made sure to make an effort to raise money for important causes. Working primarily as a catering hall mashgiach, he did his best to care for my mother,” Klein said of his father, even though the children were in adoptive or foster homes in the community.

“As we got older he dedicated his life to taking care of mom and helping other struggling families, collecting money for charity and the community. He was a brilliant man who just lacked confidence, but still figured out how to help people tremendously. When he passed away last August, we found out just how much he had helped teachers, families and newly married couples, raising over $500,000 during the past few years alone.”

At 14, Klein asked to move back home to Borough Park and started working in order to help pay the bills. He supported his parents from then on. Asked what inspired him to choose My Extended Family to honor his father’s memory, Klein shared, “Growing up, I lived in a bunch of foster homes, so I understand what it’s like to come from a broken home, and not have parents who can support you. Then through an error, I ended up homeless and on the street as a child. MEF is an organization that helps kids who lack parental support. I understand, in a very personal way, the effect of not having someone to look up to. The importance of an organization like this, coming from my experience of sleeping on the streets or not having dinner at the table”… cannot be overemphasized.

Klein continued: “I got involved a little over a year ago when my friend’s wife posted on LinkedIn that she needed help raising funds for My Extended Family. A lot of families got hit hard, and especially families that were broken before the pandemic. I learned about the organization and spoke to a few others who were involved, and who also came from broken families. It inspired me to get involved.”

Klein and his younger brother Simon teamed up to follow in the footsteps of their father.

“We both understand the value of this organization, and specifically after our father helped me set up a camp fund last year before he passed away, in order to make sure the kids in the My Extended Family went to day camp or sleep-away camp. With the help of counselors, big sisters and brothers, and people seeing us work hard and what we believe in, we were able to reach our goal.”

Klein described an experience that especially touched his heart about My Extended Family.

“They look after the vulnerable kids that people do not look after. In Brooklyn last year, I overheard three moms talking. One went to the Rebbe’s kever to pray for funds to send her child to camp. So I had a discussion with my dad, saying I would write a check for $20,000 to help kids go to camp. My dad said, ‘Absolutely not! You should write what you can write, and ask other people to help raise the money, so everyone is involved.’ And that’s how this camp started. No one knew who I was.”

What goes around comes around, and Klein noted: “Yes, we have kids that have been involved for five or six years. As they become teenagers, they in turn become big brothers to help the younger kids to see the same vision.”

In his team communication for the Purim campaign, Klein wrote: “My Extended Family is an organization very near and dear to my heart. I (want to) make sure that every child that is from a single-parent home has the opportunity to enjoy camp this summer. My father passed away a little over six months ago, and he always helped those in need. It would mean a lot to me if you would donate on my page in his honor!”

Having raised $122,000, nearly 10% of the campaign grand total of over $1.2 million, Manny and Simon Klein have indeed helped assure that many children will be able to attend camp this summer.

By Ellie Wolf