Written by Edan Khanian

On Jun 10th, 2025 from 1-7 pm, Valley Torah hosted a blood drive in the Shaarey Zedek Social Hall. They were able to round up about 15-20 donors. Around 7 workers arrived with vans ready to help in the blood drive, which not only included red blood cells, but also platelet donation. 

A special addition to the blood drive was Ethan Pezeshki, who came on behalf of the “Gift of Life” organization. His role was to set up a separate booth, swabbing adults’ cheeks to see if they could be potential matches to help kids with leukemia. Those who matched would then be contacted to see if they wanted to donate bone marrow or stem cells, potentially saving the lives of these children.

A quote from Ethan: “It’s nice to see that a simple DNA test can determine if you can save lives.”

In addition to saving lives, all donors received a $15 Amazon gift card. The event was organized by Jonah Halpern, who is planning to do a repeat of this event next year.