Contact:
Robert L. Kern
Director of Marketing and Communications
Phone: 212-757-1627
Fax: 212-757-4662
rkern@afmda.org
For Immediate Release
AFMDA Blood Donations in Israel Hit 1,000 Units for Year
Pace is Double Last Year’s as US Visitors Seek Meaningful Way
To Express of Support for Israel
JERUSALEM (May 13, 2009) – The slogan being used for years by American Friends of Magen David Adom, “Saving Lives in Israel,†took on new when AFMDA hosted a blood drive at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv on May 12, 2009 and collected the 1000th unit of blood donated in the organization’s organized blood drives in 2009. The milestone is all the more significant because it is double the number of donors that AFMDA had recruited at this time a year ago, and that it took until October to reach the 1000th donor in 2008. Since 2006, AFMDA has doubled the number of blood units collected in their blood collection events on behalf of Magen David Adom in Israel and is well on pace to do so again in 2009.
The 1000th donor in 2009 was US Marine Sergeant Felipe “Trey†Lopez, III of Austin, TX. Sergeant Lopez found it meaningful to be donating blood in Israel, and noted that it was only the second time he donated blood since joining the Marines.
While the US Embassy and its staff have been long time partners in coordinating blood drives with AFMDA, this blood drive took on extra meaning because it was dedicated in the memory of Daniel Wultz, a 16 year-old American boy who died on May 14, 2006 as a result of injuries sustained in a terror attack in Tel Aviv the previous month. AFMDA has dedicated all its blood drives this month in Daniel’s memory and to date has already collected 325 units of blood for Magen David Adom in May.
Underscoring the important role of Americans donating blood and saving lives in Israel, that the 1000th donor was at the US Embassy and was a US Marine, it is also noteworthy that Daniel Wultz was the cousin of US Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA).
In addition, two blood drives held the previous week set records as the first and second largest blood drives AFMDA has ever organized. These were organized by enthusiastic students at Yeshivat Torat Shraga and the Michlelet Esther Seminary, recruiting students from several other American yeshiva and seminary programs who noted that the events had special meaning for them as they were the same age as Wultz would be if he had survived.
To be part of the growing trend of Americans donating blood in Israel, for information on arranging a blood drive for your group, or more information regarding American Friends of Magen David Adom, please contact AFMDA at 1.866.632.2763, IsraelOffice@afmda.org, or visit www.afmda.org.
American Friends of Magen David Adom is the authorized organization supporting the life saving efforts of MDA in Israel and representing Magen David Adom in the US. Magen David Adom (MDA) is Israel’s only government-mandated ambulance and emergency medical responders, serving as the nation’s second line of defense with medical, disaster, ambulance and blood services. Thanks to AFMDA/ARMDI supporters, more than 700 MDA ambulances and Mobile Intensive Care Units are on call 24/7, operating from over 100 Emergency Medical Stations and 11 dispatch stations throughout Israel, logging more than 6.75 million miles and taking care of more than 500,000 patients annually.
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PHOTO CAPTION:
US Marine Sergeant Felipe Lopez, III, was AFMDA’s 1000th blood donor so far this year.
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Robert L. Kern
Director of Marketing & Communications
American Friends of Magen David Adom
352 Seventh Avenue, Suite 400
New York, NY 10001
212.757.1627 866.632.2763
Fax: 212.757.4662
rkern@afmda.org
www.afmda.org
SAVING LIVES IN ISRAEL
