On Monday evening, United Hatzalah of Israel held its first annual Gala Dinner event in Israel. The event took place at Avenue Event Hall in Airport City and raised a significant sum for the all-volunteer first response emergency medical services (EMS) organization.
The organization fields a volunteer network of 5,000 volunteers from across the spectrum of Israeli society. Its members are made up of EMTs, paramedics, doctors and Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit personnel. One of the hallmarks of this EMS organization is that its entire budget comes from donations, of which 30 percent come from supporters in Israel.
Chairman of United Hatzalah’s Board Mark Gerson came in from the United States in order to attend the event as well as Renee Manger of the B.L. Manger foundation who donated a new ambuboat that will serve on the Kinneret to help those in need of marine rescue on Israel’s largest freshwater lake.
Manger dedicated the rescue boat in memory of her father and twin brother. Manger explained that when she was young, her father had a fishing boat called the Salty Mec. Her childhood memories are filled with being out on the water with family. As soon as the idea of donating a boat to save lives in Israel came up, the board of the foundation immediately knew this was how they wanted to support United Hatzalah. The boat was inaugurated during the Gala Dinner and is named after the one that Renee knew so well from her youth, Salty Mec II.
Tzvika Hadar MC’ed the event which was attended by more than 750 supporters and philanthropists from Israel and abroad. Among the many people who attended were leaders and CEOs of large corporations and businesses in Israel who value the work of United Hatzalah.
Chairman at Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Yair Hamburger, Israeli-born billionaire businessman Mati Kochavi, and Gill Sharatzky from Ituran all of whom received a special award of recognition from the organization for their continued support and assistance. The award was presented by President and Founder of United Hatzalah Eli Beer as well as CEO of the organization Moshe Teitelbaum and Senior Vice President Eli Pollack.
Other V.I.P. attendees at the Gala included owner of Hapoel Be’er Sheva Alona Barkat and her husband Eli, Joint CEO’s of Castro clothing store Gabi and Etti Rotter, Former Knesset Member Leah Nas and her Husband Dr. Shlomo Nas, CEO of Pango Israel Roey Elbaz, CEO of Rimon Internet Yariv Pe’er, CEO of Reckitt Benckiser Group Kfir Avraham, CEO of the Dor Alon gas company Yaniv Yisrael, CEO of Canada-Israel Barak Rosen, Deputy CEO of Partner Yakov Trussman as well as others.
“The event was a terrific success,” said Beer. “I am very proud of all of the people who came out to support our cause tonight. It is not a simple matter for busy people to drop whatever it is that they are doing and come out to support our organization. But that is exactly what our volunteers do every day, they drop whatever they are doing and rush out to save lives. I am proud to know that our donors understand this message and came out to support us in this mission that has helped treat millions of Israelis who were in need of emergency medical assistance.”
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