Pedestrians walking passed the corner of Balfour Street and Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv on Wednesday night were able to enjoy music floating down from a fourth-floor terrace in one of the adjacent buildings signifying a summer party taking place. The party in question, a fundraising summer soiree, was hosted by local resident Steve Reiter who works in banking together with Laura Schwartz who also organized and spearheaded the event.
The event was aimed at inviting a new generation of Israeli philanthropists to join the burgeoning group of local supporters from Tel Aviv who have begun donating to support the efforts of the lifesaving volunteer EMS organization United Hatzalah. Over the course of the evening, the group managed to raise nearly 200,000 NIS including the donation of an ambucycle by one of the participants.
Headlining the event was journalist and master of ceremonies Elliott Gotkine who hosted the event’s charity auction as well as DJ Nissim Ben David. The auction included items ranging Ranging from gift cards to high-end restaurants to beauty care treatments as well as many other items. Following the auction there was a musical performance from international singer and artist Nicole Raviv.
“I normally don’t go to these types of events, but if there is one organization I can get behind and support, it is United Hatzalah,” said one of the attendees who participated in the auction and wished to remain anonymous.
“My family donated an ambucycle last year in honor of my brother who passed away,” Steve said as the event was winding down. “I strongly support United Hatzalah and I am always happy to help out good friends like Laura. It is amazing what they do.”
Laura said after the event that she was inspired by how much people came out to give back to the organization whose volunteers give so much of themselves. “It was an incredible evening of lifesaving, charity, chesed, and philanthropy in Tel Aviv, in Israel, and that is not often seen from people living here who are actively donating to causes here. It was incredible for me to see so much warmth in the room and see how much people wanted to help United Hatzalah and our mission of saving lives. It was an honor to host the first leadership division event here in Tel Aviv. Raising awareness about the lifesaving work of United Hatzalah is incredibly important. The volunteers provide fast emergency medical services with the highest quality of care completely free of charge. The world needs to know this. I’m thankful to Steve for co-hosting and to everyone who came and made the event the huge success and spectacular evening that it was.”
All of the money raised from the event will be used to purchase a new ambucycle for the organization as well as medical supplies for the volunteers to use to treat injured and ill people across the country.
To support the lifesaving efforts of United Hatzalah please click here:
