AFMDA Red Star Gala raises $1.5 million to save lives in Israel
Among attendees of soirée was former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who presented the AFMDA 2015 Humanitarian Award to philanthropist Ronald O. Perelman.
By JPOST.COM STAFFUpdated: DECEMBER 11, 2015 07:56MDA Director-General Eli Bin (left), former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (second from left), AFMDA Chairman Mark Lebow (second from right), and MDA Director of Operations Alon Fridman (right) at the 2015 AFMDA Annual Red Star Gala in New York on December 2. (photo credit: MICHAEL PRIEST PHOTOGRAPHY)
Some 500 guests turned out last week for the American Friends of MDA's third annual Red Star Gala, which raised over $1.5 million for Magen David Adom’s new national blood center.Among those in attendance was former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who presented the AFMDA 2015 Humanitarian Award to philanthropist and chief executive officer of MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated Ronald O. Perelman.Guest speakers at the event included Israel’s Consul General to New York, Ambassador Ido Aharoni, and Brig.-Gen. Professor Yitshak Kreiss, who served as former Surgeon General of the IDF.Proceeds from the event will go towards building MDA’s new national blood center, a facility that will protect Israel’s entire blood supply from threat of terror attacks and natural disasters, while continuing to provide 97 percent of the blood used by Israel’s hospitals and all the blood for the IDF.Magen David Adom is Israel’s national emergency medical response organization, which provides disaster-relief, ambulance response, and blood services to Israel. AFMDA, MDA’s US-based fundraising affiliate, raises more than 80% of the charitable dollars MDA receives annually.