Dawn Saidel, 47, of Huntingdon Valley, has been raising money to build ambulances and other vehicles for Magen David Adom (MDA), The Jewish Exponent reported.
MDA offers disaster relief and emergency services to Israeli citizens and helps collect blood for the injured and sick, milk for infants and ambulances for emergency providers, among other things.
For the past six years, Saidel has served as the director of major gifts for the American Friends of MDA.
“I think it’s helping people in their most vulnerable moments and offering them hope. It’s helping people not only when there’s a terrorist attack; it’s being there when someone has a baby. It’s making sure they’re OK and cared for,” she told The Exponent.
In April, Jewish Community Voice gave Saidel mention for MDA’s efforts in delivering a healthy baby boy in an ambulance in a Jerusalem neighborhood. In 2023, Rabbi Shai Cherry of Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park sent an email to his 300-plus member congregation asking congregants to donate money to buy an ambulance for MDA.
A George Washington High School graduate, Saidel previously served as the former Assistant Director of Development at Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote.
In related news, Uganda’s military unveiled a monument on Saturday to Israeli Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan “Yoni” Netanyahu (pictured above), a 1964 graduate of Cheltenham High School, the Associated Press reported.
On July 4, 1976, Netanyahu lost his life while leading an anti-terrorism raid on the airport at Entebbe, Uganda which freed and saved the lives of over 100 hostages. The statue is outside the airport terminal in Entebbe.
“Today, this memorial stands not only in remembrance of a distinguished soldier, but also as a tribute to the enduring values he embodied: courage in the face of danger, unwavering commitment to protecting innocent lives, and steadfast devotion to duty,” Ugandan military chief General Muhoozi Kainerugaba said at the ceremony.
His legacy continues to live on through The Jonathan Institute, an Israeli organization established to “bring in sympathetic leaders, experts, and journalists to get across the message: the PLO is a terrorist organization and the Soviet Union is its parent and supporter.”
For more on Yoni Netanyahu, you can click here.
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Photos: Dawn Saidel courtesy of The Exponent, Wikipedia