The Joseph Gringlas Z”L Stories That Live program is a unique fellowship that connects college students with Holocaust survivors to create meaningful relationships. Launched by the Rohr Center for Jewish Life-Chabad at Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Swarthmore in 2015, the program has touched and inspired thousands of students in the Philadelphia area.

In 2022, the program was renamed The Joseph Gringlas Stories That Live, and has expanded – in partnership with Chabad on Campus – to include Vanderbilt University, The University of Michigan, The University of Wisconsin, The University of Illinois, and Washington University in St. Louis.

Stories That Live (STL) Fellows are paired with Holocaust survivors and are passionate to get to know the survivors in a real and meaningful way. STL facilitates one-on-one meetings over the semester to foster a long-term appreciation for the survivors.

With an eye for impact on the greater community – and to ensure the stories and lessons STL Fellows learn will endure – Fellows create meaningful retelling projects in a variety of media to preserve the stories for the next generation. We encourage creativity and provide sensitivity training, funding, and coaching.

STL also facilitates Holocaust Survivor lectures at college campuses – giving broad student audiences a chance to meet a survivor and hear first-hand testimony of the events leading to the Holocaust. Students are also supported in leading an antisemitism awareness workshop to raise awareness amongst their peers and to combat modern-day antisemitism.

If you’d like to support Stories That Live, please click here.

To read about Joseph Gringlas Z”L, please click here

Join us in telling the stories of the past, so that they can endure for generations to come.

What we give:

• Training and coaching.
• Logistics and transport (Uber or Lyft).
• A chance to experience history through the eyes of a survivor.
• Funding and guidance for a retelling project.

What you give:

• Your creativity, passion and dedication.
• A presentation at the end of the semester, in a variety of media.

Every survivor has a story. But time is running out and there are many stories still untold. If you know of a Holocaust survivor who is able to share their story, please get in touch.

When I showed John my drawing of him and his wife he started tearing up. He and his family thanked me more times than I can count for putting a tiny part of John and his wife’s story into pictures. This project was one of my favorite experiences of college and I cannot wait to begin to tell people about how much I learned from it and how much it has changed me.

Working on this project was truly eye-opening. I thought I knew more than the average person about the history of the Holocaust, but hearing Don and Ernie’s stories firsthand and working with them to determine the best way to share their experiences was something you cannot learn from books or documentaries.