By COLlive reporter
Three Chabad businessmen who founded the Hatzalah-thon fundraiser during the COVID pandemic were honored today by the Executive Board of Chevra Hatzalah at an event that sprung up as an offshoot of the United for Protection Sefer Torah campaign and annual Hatzalah fundraising event.
Rabbi Shloimy Greenwald, Rabbi Beryl Junik and R’ Zalmy Cohen, who created the United for Protection Sefer Torah and the Hatzalah-Thon fundraising campaign which has united Hatzalah branches around the world in raising funds for the life-saving organization, received the award at the second annual Hatzalah EMS Expo event today in New Jersey.
The two-day immersive experience for anyone in the EMS industry is taking place Sunday and Monday this week at the Meadowlands Expo Center in New Jersey, and features vendors of EMS products and services as well as educational classes for those in the Hatzalah organization and the EMS field. The expo, sponsored by Cross River Bank, offers vendors the opportunity to meet and offer their products and services to decision-makers in the area, and was packed on day one of this year’s event.
The three activists and businessmen were presented with plaques by Yitzy Stern, a Member of the Executive board of Central Chevra Hatzalah.
The awards state that they are being given to United for Protection in recognition of bringing Klal Yisroel together by writing a Sefer Torah, helping Klal Yisroel heal during an immensely challenging time, and for creating the Hatzalah-Thon fundraiser, “thereby ensuring the financial success of the worldwide Hatzalah network. Over the last few years, HatzalahThon helped Hatzalah branches from around the world raise more than fifty million dollars,” they wrote.
The plaque “is an acknowledgment to the entire team at United for Protection that despite numerous challenges each year, they find a way to not only succeed but to surpass the previous years’ success.
“All of Klal Yisroel owes a debt of gratitude to United for Protection for their selfless dedication on behalf of Klal Yisroel and specifically on behalf of the Hatzalah organizations worldwide,” they wrote.
This is a Kiddush Shem Hashem and Kiddush Shem Chabad.