Yad Sarah to make military cemeteries accessible to disabled mourners
Nechonit vans will take mourners to the graves at these military cemeteries: Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, Kiryat Shaul in Tel Aviv; Haifa and Beersheba.
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICHMourners visit military cemetery on Memorial Day 2013(photo credit: YAD SARAH, COURTESY)
Yad Sarah will make available its Nechonit vans at no cost to take the disabled and elderly who are unable to walk to and inside four major military cemeteries on Remembrance Day for the Fallen and Victims of Terrorism on Monday morning.The voluntary organization, at the request of the Defense Ministry, will accept calls at *6444 from relatives and close friends who want to attend the memorial services for their loved ones.The drivers will take their passengers as close as possible to the graves at the following military cemeteries: Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, Kiryat Shaul in Tel Aviv; Haifa and Beersheba.“This is a modest but important contribution we can do for bereaved families and close friends who lost their loved ones,” said Moshe Cohen, Yad Sarah’s director.Nechonit vans have special lifts in the back that easily raise wheelchairs and their passengers inside and have extra room for accompanying persons. Volunteers who are high school pupils are being sent by Yad Sarah to the entrance of the Mt. Herzl Military Cemetery with wheelchairs for people who reached there by foot but are unable to walk to the graves.In addition, the organization’s rehabilitation centers in branches around the country will hold special memorial ceremonies for the fallen. The events will include the lighting of memorial candles and reading stories of the military heroes. Those who participate in the rehabilitation centers’ activities will take part in the ceremonies.Meanwhile, Magen David Adom asks the public to honor the memory of the fallen by donating blood, whose supply runs low during the holidays and the summer. Shimon Redlich, a member of the Blood Donors’ Organization, has initiated a mass blood donation event between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the pedestrian mall of Zichron Ya’acov on Remembrance Day. This will be the 19th year in a row that such an event takes place.Hundreds of pints are expected to be donated; every pint can save three recipients.
