Gift Of Life Marrow Registry And Birthright Israel Celebrate 15 Years Of Lifesaving Partnership
Gift of Life Marrow Registry celebrates its 15-year partnership with Birthright Israel, which offers Birthright’s young participants a chance to pay it forward by joining the registry and giving back to others.
- West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, FL (1888PressRelease) March 04, 2020 - Boca Raton, FL – For 15 years, Gift of Life Marrow Registry and Taglit - Birthright Israel have engaged in a remarkable partnership to offer Birthright participants a way to pay it forward by volunteering as blood stem cell and bone marrow donors. On February 20, the two organizations gathered at Gift of Life’s 5th annual Celebrating Life New York City event to celebrate the anniversary of this alliance and honor outstanding Birthright donors who have helped save hundreds of lives.
During the event, Gift of Life recognized seven standout donors who joined the registry while on their Birthright Israel trips and who have gone beyond the call of duty to support the cause by spreading the message, raising funds and hosting registration drives to recruit more potential donors. Despite their individual acts of selflessness, the group—which includes Benjamin Atwater, Andrew Firestone, Eric Gurevich, Michael Sprachman, Noah Starr, Jared Stein and Alex Weiss—shares in the perspective that they gained more than they’ve given.
“This has been the single most profound and remarkable experience of our lives,” said donor Eric Gurevich. “It doesn’t take courage or great sacrifices to do the right thing. It just takes action.”
Gift of Life and Birthright Israel joined forces in 2004, and since that time over 91,500 young people on their Birthright Israel trip have joined the marrow registry and more than 2,047 matches have been found for patients, resulting in 255 lifesaving transplants to treat leukemia, lymphoma and inherited immune disorders.
“We can’t thank Birthright Israel enough for the thousands of donors that have joined Gift of Life’s registry, said Gift of Life Marrow Registry Founder and CEO Jay Feinberg, himself a 25-year transplant survivor. “We are always awestruck by the eagerness of these remarkable young people to help save the lives of total strangers.”
The event also featured an emotional first-time meeting between donor Binyomin Gewirtz and his transplant recipient Scott Novorr. Gewirtz, a 40-year old father of four, joined the registry at a recruitment drive in Lakewood, N.J. in 2003. He donated bone marrow to save Novorr’s life after the Overland Park, Kan., resident was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in March 2014.
Since its start in 1991, Gift of Life Marrow Registry has grown to almost 363,000 individuals who have volunteered to donate blood stem cells or bone marrow to save a life. To date, Gift of Life has facilitated over 17,540 matches for those with leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell, and nearly 100 other diseases, resulting in more than 3,500 transplants.
For more details, please contact Edwige Buteau at ebuteau ( @ ) giftoflife dot org dot
Please see photos below of the Gift of Life Celebrating Life New York City event. Photo credit: Julio Bedoya, Hechler Photographers. Video is also available.
About Gift of Life Marrow Registry
Gift of Life Marrow Registry is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla. The organization, established in 1991, is dedicated to saving lives by facilitating bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants for patients with leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood-related diseases. www.giftoflife.org
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