4 summers ago, my amazing grandmother Mary Schatz (Miriam bat Manas) passed away. She epitomized the famous verse in Micha, “and to walk humbly with your G-d.” (6:8) The characteristic of humility was embedded into her nature; she excelled at it to a T. In her mind, life wasn’t about her- it was entirely about everyone else. One of my most vivid recollections were our conversations. I’m sure anyone who knew her could all attest that anytime anyone spoke with her, you suddenly felt a sense of calm, simply because she was an adept listener who truly cared about what you were saying. This remained consistent even as she got more ill towards the end of her life.

4 summers ago also marked the first year my family ran the first Mary Schatz Memorial Blood Drive in our local synagogue. Since then, hundreds of people, whether they know it or not (but perhaps that’s the beauty of it all!), have donated blood in her memory. We do these drives not only because she happened to have ran quite a few herself throughout her lifetime, but because blood donations are the essence of humility.

This year, we wanted to go even bigger. At the end of April, a blood emergency was announced. This problem is twofold: 1. there are millions of people who survive on blood donations 2. blood emergencies generally only happen in the summer, when people are on vacation.

We thus wanted to challenge you to help us reach our goal of 100 blood donations in memory of Mary Schatz (a”h). You will not only be saving up to 3 lives yourself, but be part of a greater movement to save up to 300 lives.

Let’s end this blood emergency, TOGETHER. Are you in?