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Beginning on Thursday, January 21, and still going strong right now, Hatzalah, Shomrim, Chaverim and Frank Storch of The Chesed Fund & Project Ezra are working tirelessly around the clock helping the community weather the storm. The Chesed Fund & Project Ezra partnered with Bnos Yisroel Girl’s School to provide emergency supplies for staff and teachers which included: hundreds of car snow brushes, flashlights, window scrapers, mini lanterns, etc. Frank also arranged for a 4×4 vehicle for emergency purposes for Hatzalah. Prior to the storm Hatzalah, Shomrim, & Chaverim met at Frank Storch’s home to plan for emergency response during the storm and reviewed practices and procedures. Additionally, The Chesed Fund& Project Ezra supplied the Hatzalah, Shomrim, & Chaverim volunteers with snow brushes, flashlights, window scrapers, emergency lanterns, shoe grippers, and other emergency supplies

On Friday, January 22, The Chesed Fund & Project Ezra distributed 600-700 mini lanterns, flashlights, shovels and windshield deicer sprays for free. People from throughout the community were grateful as many stores were already sold out. On Shabbos, January 23, Hatzalah was servicing the community as usual and responding to medical emergencies. After approximately three feet of snow fell, on Saturday night, Frank arranged for transportation for doctors and nurses to and from hospitals including University of Maryland Shock Trauma, Sinai Hospital, Sheppard Pratt, and Greater Baltimore Medical Center.

The chesed wheels kept turning and on Sunday, January 24th, Frank picked up a patient who had been discharged from Sinai Emergency Room at 2:30 am. The street that the patient lived on was impassable and Mr. Gutman helped by using his snowplow to provide access to the patient’s home. Sunday night Frank and Heshy Klien from Shomrim gave out over 1,000 bagels from Goldberg’s Bagels on behalf of Chesed Fund & Project Ezra, Hatzalah, Shomrim & Chaverim. Bagels were provided to Baltimore Police at the Northwest District and Baltimore County stations, several fire stations, Powerback Rehabilitation in Lutherville, and hospital staff at Greater Baltimore Medical Center and Sinai Hospital. Frank also tried to arrange transportation for a Sefer Torah for a minyan but was unsuccessful because snow made it too dangerous to transport.

The Baltimore community is grateful to it’s exemplary volunteer community organizations, Hatzalah, Shomrim, Chaverim, and the Chesed Fund & Project Ezra (Frank Storch) who go above and beyond daily but even more so during this snowstorm emergency.

For more information about the various security and community initiatives Frank Storch is involved in please visit www.thechesedfund.com. For any questions or comments call 410-340-1000, 410-486-0800 x113, or email [email protected]

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