Partners for Life, Gift of Life's premiere event and the largest gathering of donors and recipients in the nation, included a special tribute to the organization's 10th Anniversary. Gift of Life's Executive Director, Jay Feinberg, founded the organization after the search for his own bone marrow donor yielded matches for hundreds of other patients in need. After receiving his own successful transplant in 1995, he dedicated himself to continuing the effort to recruit Jewish donors into the registry. According to Jay, "The past ten years have been a remarkable journey. It has been an exciting and wonderful honor to watch this organization grow from a grass-roots effort to save one life to an internationally respected medical resource credited with saving over a thousand lives."
The highlight of this unique event was the emotional and dramatic introduction of two transplant recipients to the heroes who saved their lives, their blood stem cell donors. The first pair was introduced by Warren Spector, President and Co-COO of the Bear Stearns Companies and 2002 Partners for Life Honoree. Mr. Spector called Irene Berg, a nurse from Hyde Park, NY to the stage and explained that after her diagnosis, Irene's biggest fear was that doctors would not be able to do anything to help her and that she was actually relieved to learn that treatment was possible with a blood stem cell transplant. Mr. Spector was particularly proud that Irene's donor joined the registry when he requested an
at-home testing kit through Gift of Life's website, a program that was launched by Mr. Spector during the search for a match for his sister, Ruthie.
Thanks to this online program, 14 transplants have already been facilitated, and more are sure to follow. Mr. Spector introduced Irene's miracle match, Mark Waldman, who had traveled cross-country from San Francisco just to meet her. Irene's tears of joy upon meeting her hero were a poignant reminder of why Gift of Life's work is so important. She announced from the podium, "This is what it must be like to win an Oscar- but at least 10,000 times better!"
The second recipient, Dr. Raphael (Raphi) Weitz, Director of the Neurology Institute at the Schneider Children's Medical Center in Israel, was thrilled to be meeting his heroic donor on the exact date of his diagnosis, three years later. His donor, Robert Eppenstein, who lives in New York City, joined Gift of Life's Registry when he attended a donor recruitment drive in January 2002 during the search for a match for Drs. Ruthie Spector and Barry Mishkin. Robert noted that becoming a donor was just one way of participating in the Jewish value of tikkun olam, repairing the world, and that he felt "lucky to have been given the chance to save a life."
Warren Spector explained why he has remained such a strong supporter of Gift of Life. "Of all the things I am involved with, Gift of Life has the most immediate impact and you get to see the results of your work first-hand. What we do today saves people's lives and really makes a difference, immediately. It's remarkable to me. People have come up to me tonight saying, 'I come here every year, and this has been more meaningful to me than any other charity event I go to. I feel it more strongly.' That's really powerful. It's humbling and very rewarding. There is nothing that I do that I feel such a strong direct connection with as I do with Gift of Life."
Partners for Life 2005 was the largest and most successful gala in Gift of Life's history. One of the most exciting aspects was the sheer size of the annual group photo taken of over 60 donors and recipients who were present at the gala. Many were amazed at how rapidly the group has expanded, which is a testament to Gift of Life's growth and success. Many pairs of donors and recipients who had met at previous galas and attend Partners for Life yearly were thrilled to relive their own emotional meetings. Richard Evans, who met his recipient, Danny Raskin in 2002 asked, "How could we not come back? It's such a wonderful experience to share in the joy of a donor and recipient meeting. Every year the room gets larger and larger and there are more and more donors and recipients, which is great." Danny added, "It's just as emotional as the night we met and that's why you guys have tissues on every table. The stories are unbelievable. I lived it first-hand and it means so much to be able to see it year after year. It touches my heart." Another recipient, Jennifer Rutansky, who met her donor Moshe Finkelstein in 2003 explained, "Moshe and I have become great friends and share everything with each other, including the exciting news that Joe (my husband) and I are expecting our first child in October. It is undoubtedly because of Moshe. He has truly created generations by saving my life."
Another important part of the evening was the presentation of the Solomon Weill Recruitment Award to Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life and Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity by Richard Joel, President of Yeshiva University. Michelle Lackie, Director of Weinberg Tzedek Hillel and Lillian Baharestani from Syracuse University accepted the award on behalf of Hillel. AEPi's award was accepted by Michael Holub, the organization's Executive Director and David Burden from York University.
The organizations were recognized for their leadership roles organizing drives on college campuses, educating and recruiting donors on behalf of the registry. According to Mr. Joel, the partnership between Gift of Life and Hillel and AEPi is so successful because, "Students want to matter and students want to be involved in Gift of Life because they know that they can make a difference in the world. Often young people feel powerless and out of the loop. This is their loop and it's the loop for the future."
The Alan B. Snyder Volunteer Service Award was presented to Lorne Klemensberg, Director of Canada Israel Experience, a program of birthright israel, for his vision in recognizing that his constant interaction with so many young Jewish people on birthright trips put him in the unique position to bring Gift of Life to a captive audience. Over a thousand young Jews have joined the registry at several drives in Israel, including one held this past winter at the birthright israel Mega Event. A video retrospective celebrating Gift of Life's ten-year history and highlighting its achievements, including the launch of the Leah Gottleib Sattin Umbilical Cord Blood Recruitment Center at Boro Park OB/GYN, was shown during the second half of the program. Jay thanked everyone who had played a role in Gift of Life's success and told the audience, "You have all created a community in which the loneliest moment of an individual's life (receiving a diagnosis of cancer) can become the first moment of a life filled with friends, love, good health and hope."
Perhaps Josh Hoffman, who donated blood stem cells to Dr. Ruthie Spector in 2001 summed it up the best when he explained, "Today is Yom HaShoah. Recently, at our childrens' Hebrew school we went to a program and heard a Holocaust survivor speak. We heard about what she went through, how many of her neighbors would not help her when she was trying to run from the Nazis. But, here we are, helping our neighbors, and this is the future of mankind. All of us, helping each other."
If you would like to receive information on future Gift of Life events, including the 2006 Partners for Life Gala, please send an email to
gala@giftoflife.org.
