Three generations of champion blood-donors

Summer is especially difficult for MDA blood services, as people are abroad or too busy to go to MDA stations.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
MOSHE GERLENTER, Israel and Ya’acov give blood 370 (photo credit: MDA)
MOSHE GERLENTER, Israel and Ya’acov give blood 370
(photo credit: MDA)
Three generations of the Gerlenter family arrived at the Magen David Adom Blood Center at Tel Hashomer on Wednesday to celebrate the 17th birthday of Elad Ya’acov, who is now able to donate for the first time.
Grandfather Moshe, an economist, accompanied the boy along with his own four sons – Yisrael, Hagai, Pinhas and Natan Nahman. Moshe has been giving blood regularly and has reached 275 pints since 1973. A member of the MDA Blood Donors Organization, he received a citation in 2006 when he gave his 200th pint.
Natan Nahman has already donated 70 pints, Israel 47, Pinhas 40 and Hagai 37 so far.
Moshe decided to mark the birthday at MDA’s Blood Center, where he volunteers every Monday and invites friends and acquaintances to give blood. As a result, dozens of donors arrive every week to save lives.
The summer months are especially difficult for MDA’s blood services, because the large number of people on vacation means they are out of the country or too busy to go to MDA stations.
MDA director-general Eli Bin said that while Israelis continue to donate, there is still a serious shortage of blood at this time of year.
Hundreds of people a day who receive blood from MDA would die or be very ill without the donated blood, he said. “The emotional event in which the Gerlenter family donated is a great deed. I wish many others would follow in their footsteps.”