Wilf $1M gift will enhance new blood services center in Israel

MARK AND JANE Wilf of Livingston have made a $1 million donation through the Wilf Family Foundations toward the construction of the $130 million Marcus National Blood Services Center, under the umbrella of Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s national emergency medical and disaster service.

The Wilf Education Center, located within the Marcus Center on its five-and-a-half-acre campus in Ramla, will provide training opportunities for MDA first responders, EMTs, paramedics, lab technicians, and phlebotomists. It will also house an auditorium for such activities as conferences, seminars, and film screenings.

The Wilfs live in Livingston and are members of Congregation Etz Chaim there. Mark Wilf, who is a longtime leader of the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ and its predecessors, is chair of the Jewish Federations of North America. The mission of the Wilf Family Foundations is to perpetuate the vision initiated by its founders, Harry Wilf and Joseph Wilf, Mark’s father, who were brothers and Holocaust survivors. This includes the provision of major support to efforts strengthening the Jewish community in Israel and in the United States.

When completed at the end of 2020, the facility will make Israel the only nation in the world with an underground blood bank, safe from missiles and from chemical and biological attack. The center will house MDA’s logistics hub, blood-donation rooms, and a plasma storage and dispatch department.

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“Israel’s remarkable innovations in the face of adversity are one of the greatest points of pride in the American-Jewish community,” said Mark Wilf. “This is doubly so when Israeli creativity and determination are deployed in the very important work of saving lives.

“MDA’s Marcus National Blood Services Center will set an international benchmark for the safety of blood. Through the initiative our foundation is funding, it will also be a worldwide hub for EMT and paramedic training. Jane and I are delighted to support this groundbreaking project.”

“The Wilfs have a remarkable record of leadership in major Jewish organizations across North America,” said David M. Frankel, chief executive officer of American Friends of Magen David Adom. “Their commitment to Magen David Adom’s new blood center is a powerful testament to how imperative this project is to Israel.”