VALLEY RESIDENTS SEND AID TO EUROPE; GROUPS HELP POOR IN EX-SOVIET STATES.

Byline: Yvette Cabrera Daily News Staff Writer

When Zahar Kofsman hears about food shortages and bitter cold winter in Moldova, the San Fernando Valley man said Tuesday that he thinks about his former neighbors and friends.

``It's a very, very bad time for them,'' said Kofsman, who owns Russian bookstores in Tarzana and Van Nuys, and is now a United States citizen.

Like many immigrants in the Valley and Los Angeles, he is reaching out to help the poverty- and misery-stricken residents of Russia and surrounding countries. He's already sent clothes to Moldova, and Tuesday he applauded efforts by the American Red Cross, area churches and charities to help as well.

The Red Cross has issued an urgent plea for donations of money to purchase food, clothing, shelter supplies and other items.

``People get excited when there's a flood and it kills 120,000, but what they don't understand is that the same 120,000 can die quietly in a big country like Russia because of cold winters,'' said Rabbi Nastoli Estulin, immigration program director at the Chabad Russian Synagogue in West Hollywood.

The Red Cross is hoping to work with area synagogues, churches and community centers to encourage residents to donate, said Mike Powers, spokesman for the agency's Los Angeles chapter.

``It's pretty dire,'' said Powers. ``It's winter and if we don't get more stuff in there as soon as possible - which we are working to do - it could become a problem because of the isolation, winter and the roads not being accessible.''

Russia and the surrounding countries of Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, have been among the hardest hit, he said. The Red Cross estimates there are more than 70 million people living below the poverty line in those areas, said Powers.

An early summer drought and heavy rains in August created a poor harvest leading to the food shortage, said Powers. The collapse of the Russian economy this year has also reduced the amount of fuel and food the country can import.

``They simply don't have the money to purchase food and fuel as they normally would,'' said Powers.

For 25 years, the Chabad Russian Synagogue has collected money and goods for Russia because a majority of the 40,000 parishioners have close ties to family and friends there, said Estulin.

The plight of the needy has not gone unheeded locally. The Holy Virgin Mary Cathedral in Silverlake has helped by coordinating with their state and national branches to run a massive soup kitchen in Russia, and to send care packages overseas as well.

In November, the cathedral's parishioners raised $6,000 to send food and medical equipment, said Igumen Benjamin, who organized the effort at the cathedral, which is affiliated with the Orthodox Church in America.

``How these people are going to get through the winter we don't know,'' he said.

The Red Cross hopes to raise $14 million internationally. To help, call (800) HELP-NOW or send monetary donations for the Red Cross International Response Fund to the Red Cross Los Angeles Chapter, 2700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, 90057.

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Photo

PHOTO Tarzana book dealer Zahar Kofsman has raised aid for Russia and nearby countries.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News