Alex Goldberg, Deanna Meyer, and Aharon Watson became familiar with United Hatzalah during their time in Israel – that formative gap year program. “Three years ago Eli Beer, the head of the organization brought me to the headquarters of United Hatzalah,” recalls Alex, 21, who is today a student at Yeshiva University. “I saw the technology; the ambucycles, defibrillators and understood that the volunteers are doing their job free of charge. I was hooked.”

He immediately became involved and organized United Hatzalah’s now annual fundraising race in Sacher Park, Jerusalem. Back then he and Aharon even witnessed a true United Hatzalah call.

“We were checking out the routes for the first race, when one of our helpers got a call that there was an emergency nearby. We all joined him and we sped to the place of the emergency – on the highway. A driver crashed into a wall because he went into diabetic shock while driving. It was impressive to see how a $2 tube of sugar paste can save a life if you get to the patient fast enough,” Alex recalled.

The experiences clearly made a big impact – since three years later, in 2013, Alex, Aharon and Deanna decided to bring a little bit of Jerusalem, and a little bit of United Hatzalah, to New York’s Roosevelt Island. The Race to Save Lives NY will take place on Roosevelt Island’s Firefighter’s Field at 10 AM on Sunday, June 9^th.  The goal is to raise funds for ambucycles, medically equipped motorcycles that arrive on the scene of an emergency in Israel in 90 seconds.

“Lots of people don’t know about United Hatzalah here – we want to reach out to fellow students and their families in the area in a fun way,” explain the organizers.

Among the corporate sponsors are: Weatherproof, Manhattan GMAT, MV Sportswear and  63 Vital Minerals® water.

To sign up for the race as an individual or a team, or to sponsor a runner or the event, visit www.racetosavelives.com!

About United Hatzalah: United Hatzalah, an Israeli non-profit operates a 2000 strong volunteer medic network in Israel. United Hatzalah’s medics live all over the country and treat people without regard to gender, ethnicity or religion free of charge. Thanks to the organization’s innovative technology volunteers have an average response time of 3 minutes. If you want to learn more about United Hatzalah visit www.israelrescue.org.