When Wendy and Hank Kaplowitz’s daughter was participating in a study abroad program in Israel, they were surprised to receive an unexpected phone call in the middle of the night. Their daughter, it turned out, had fallen down the stairs, largely unharmed save for a mangled ankle. The couple felt helpless. Their daughter was injured and in need of assistance, love and care. But she was in Israel. What could they, some 6000 miles away in New Jersey, possibly do?
That’s where Yad Sarah stepped in.
The Kaplowitz’s daughter met a Yad Sarah representative at the medical clinic, who showed her great kindness and compassion and tracked down a pair of crutches that she could use to get back on her feet.
Little did the Kaplowitz family know that this seemingly random encounter would form the basis of a decades’ long partnership with Yad Sarah in their mission to connect older and at-risk people in Israel with the health and home care support services they need to live dignified lives.
In the years following their daughter’s accident, Wendy and Hank have become regular donors to Yad Sarah. More recently, the couple decided to take their charitable support of Yad Sarah one step further: they established a Charitable Gift Annuity through Friends of Yad Sarah in 2018, and again in 2019. With this generous gift, Wendy and Hank receive fixed-rate lifetime income, much of it tax-free, an especially valuable retirement planning tool for these retired professionals who have given so much to others. Wendy and Hank are also gratified by the knowledge that their gift will help Yad Sarah provide for others into the next generation as part of their legacy for Israel.
“We wanted to support Yad Sarah, and it was a perfect fit,” said Hank, a semi-retired university professor. “To a great degree, they work with all at-need populations in Israel and they volunteer out of their own houses in small communities. It’s heimish.”
