.jpg "In photo above are RTMA 11th and 12th grade donors and volunteers with The Jewish Educational Center’s Associate Dean Rabbi Eliyahu Teitz (center), Dr. Akiva Perlman, Director of Guidance and Student Counseling (back row, second from left) and JEC Campus Maintenance Technician (Mr. Gary Barnes, back row, second from right)")
Elizabeth, NJ–A holiday blood drive that was open to the public and sponsored by the Jewish Educational Center yielded an impressive 84 pints of blood in just a few hours for the New Jersey Blood Services, a division of the New York Blood Center.
Indeed, this year’s intended goal was slightly higher, but considering the breakdown of two critical machines capable of extracting double donations simultaneously, this year’s total was actually on target to surpass previous records.
The drive, organized, coordinated, and promoted entirely by the school’s Rav Teitz Mesivta Academy boys’ high school division, drew students, parents, school administrators, faculty, and people literally off the street as the boys visited local stores and restaurants up and down the Elmora section of Elizabeth working to drum up participation.
The entire campaign was student planned, organized, promoted, and run by 12th graders Dani Mazorosky of Staten Island, Yosef Kramer of Edison, and Avichai Wacsburg of Passaic, as well as 11th graders Azriel Kimmel of Hillside, Bentzi Engel of Elizabeth, and Noah Botvinik of Highland Park.
“We always know that we can count on JEC,” said Christine Schetelich, the NJ Blood Service chair, who oversaw the initiative. “The RTMA boys are always a pleasure to work with!”
For JEC students, the work of saving lives is being taught not just as an ideal to strive for, but as a very real opportunity for those willing and able to do so. In the past year alone, JEC faculty have illustrated this in their own lives: one teacher has traveled to be a bone marrow donor to a patient who he matched in a national registry and a second teacher donated a kidney and was away from work for many weeks, all to save the life of another.
“The boys look forward to this event every year, “ said RTMA Director of Student Activities Rabbi Yisroel Rich, “and their enthusiasm is a testament to their values as committed Jews and citizens of the world.”
For more information on the blood drive, please contact Rabbi Yisroel Rich, RTMA Director of Student Activities and staff coordinator of the drive at 908-355-4850, extension 6258 or email yrich_thejec.org .
