Families Raise Funds Overnight for Ambulances

The parking lot of Congregation Beth Tefillah in Sandy Springs looked much different on Tuesday night, Sept. 10. That’s because nine generous families donated two ambulances at a cost of $115,000 each to the Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency services system.

This happened as a response to the Oct. 7 attacks and the feeling of doing something positive to help Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces overseas; and thanks to the fundraising effort of donor Judah Holland, who hopped on the phone – and in 18 hours had the whole project sewn up.

The children of the donors tried out the lights and sirens and learned about the tradition of helping others.

Holland said, “It’s all about the preservation of life. If you save one life, you save the world. Ambulances save a lot of lives.” His wife, Hillary, added “Am Yisroel Chai.”

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The ambulances were manufactured in Elkhart, Ind., and will be taken back north on a flatbed truck to join eight other ambulances at the Port of Baltimore where they will traverse to Israel, all of which could take another six weeks depending on the shipping company’s logistics.

Noting that the donor families’ names were painted on the doors, the entire ambulance bodies will be repainted and equipped with Israeli reflective paint and state-of-the-art technology inside. Jessica Nessim, Vice President of American Friends of Magen David Adom (AFMDA), explained, “These are life support ambulances, and in other instances, we have bulletproof ambulances that cost $350,000. All have very detailed specifications laid out by the Ministries of Defense and Transportation … most importantly, while Hamas spreads darkness and tries to bring us down, we are about light and love.”

Nessim led the group in a red ribbon cutting, prayer for the State of Israel, and Shehehyanu blessing. Meanwhile, the spirited children of donors regaled in operating the lights and sirens on the parked vehicles.

Hillary and Judah Holland led the fundraising efforts to support Magen David Adom in Israel.

After an indoor buffet dinner, Nessim explained that Billi and Bernie Marcus were the major funders of this effort, which is part of the Marcus’ overall investment in Israel’s underground blood bank center (the world’s first underground, anti-missile blood center) featured in the Atlanta Jewish Times, May 5, 2022.

Nessim stated, “Our organization has many parts — like supplying breast milk to the 18 kibbutz orphans left on Oct. 7 plus other mothers who joined the IDF and wanted their babies ‘nursed’. We also train paramedics for the IDF, and take some of the burden off the army, where we meet at the border to take a patient into Israel proper so that they [the IDF] can return to Gaza immediately. We are also the only country that has whole blood transfusions in the field. Overall, we have 32,000 volunteers and 3,000 full-time employees … the shock and stress in war is very tragic … losing dozens of medics, once 12 in one day.” The blood center serves both the civilian and military populations.

The volunteer families were very modest about their donations. Julian Isakow told the AJT, “Helping Israel is only natural and part of my family’s tradition. My aunt was head of Magen David Adom in Toronto.”

Ian Ratner and Jeff Allen both stated, “When Judah called, we called right back immediately and were ‘in.’” Randall Katz stated, “How can you not help? We wanted to help out.”

One family of donors, the Riley’s, are non-Jewish.

The Isakows stated that supporting Magen David Adom is part of their family tradition.

Nessim, who has been with AFMDA for eight 8 years, concluded, “Actually it was a miracle that we were not destroyed. Hamas left us alone because for some unusual reason our gates were closed that day; and they realized it was too difficult to get in. Later, we saw their detailed maps to destroy our operation. While Hamas spends money on death tunnels, our donors’ efforts go to resupplying and building life.”

Donors were: Mendel Chazanow and family, Fredric Garvett and family, Hillary and Judah Holland and family. Deborah and Julian Isakow and family; Erica and Randall Katz and family; Carol and lan Ratner and family; Bryant Riley and family, the Robinson and Ellerine families; and Drs. Mimi Zieman and Jeffrey Allen.