Private Donors

Irving Schneider and Family

In February 2007 the Schneider family announced its decision to provide $250,000 to enable the award of a Fulbright-Schneider Yehuda Danon Post-Doctoral Fellowship to an outstanding young researcher in the life sciences in each of the ten coming years.  This gesture honoring Fulbright alumnus Danon was announced by Ms. Lynn Schneider at an evening convened at the Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel to mark Professor Danon’s retirement from his administrative duties in the Clalit Health Services to which the Center is affiliated.

The Schneider family is headed by Mr. Irving Schneider, a leading business figure and philanthropist.  In his business career, Mr. Schneider is an extremely successful real estate executive, formerly one of the senior partners of the late Harry B. Helmsley and now COO and Chairman of the Board of Helmsley-Spear, Inc. In addition to serving as the main supporter of the Schneider children’s hospitals in New York and Petach Tikva, Mr. Schneider and his family are active philanthropists and benefactors of many cultural, educational, health, Jewish, and civic organizations in New York, in other states, and in Israel. Mr. Schneider is also a major benefactor of Brandeis University, where he served as a trustee from 1970-1994 and was named trustee emeritus in 1995.  

Professor Yehuda Danon was the founding director of the Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, Israel’s first and only children’s hospital.  The Schneider Children’s Hospital of Long Island Jewish Medical Center served as the inspiration for the childrens’ hospital in Israel; and the generosity of the Schneider family, which made possible the establishment of the model institution in the US, was also the key to establishing its Israeli counterpart.

Professor Yehuda Danon is one of Israel's leading physicians, with wide-ranging influence on both medical research and practice.  He serves today as Director of the Schneider Center’s Kipper Immunology and Allergy Institute, as well as head of the Laboratory of Pediatric Immunology at the Felsenstein Medical Research Center of Tel Aviv University.  During Professor Danon's military service, he rose to the position of Surgeon General of the Israel Defense Force. Professor Danon received his M.D. degree from the Hebrew University.  In 1976 he received a Fulbright fellowship to enable to him to carry out research at the University of California, Los Angeles, and in 1983 he was awarded a second fellowship in support of research conducted at Yeshiva University. 

The Irving and Helen Betz Foundation

At its December 2006 Board meeting, the Irving and Helen Betz Foundation decided to allocate $75,000 to the Fulbright Israel program, $25,000 per year for three years, in order to make possible the award of Fulbright-Betz Fellowships to American post-graduate students.  During the period 1999-2004 the Betz Foundation funded fellowships awarded to five US post-graduates.

The Betz Foundation was established in 1999 by Dr. Nancy Ras to honor the memory of her parents, Irving and Helen Betz, Holocaust survivors, who became US citizens and settled in California after World War II.  Mr. Betz, who started out in the US as a manual laborer, worked his way up to a position as a leading San Francisco Bay Area real estate developer.  The family later moved to Israel.
 
The Betz Foundation, a supporting foundation at the Endowment Fund of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, provides an instrument for the family’s younger generations to continue in the philanthropic footsteps of Irving and Helen Betz. The missions of the Fund include health service and educational projects, both in Israel and the San Francisco Bay Area, which focus for the most part on children and adults suffering from either psychological problems or mental retardation. The Betz Foundation has a particular interest in supporting creative, innovative projects, through which its financial assistance will ensure the highest impact for all individuals concerned. 

West Side Council of Orthodox Jewish Organizations

The West Side Council of Orthodox Jewish Organizations supports the Fulbright-John Jay College-Israel Police MA in Criminal Justice Fellowship for officers of the Israel Police through a contribution to John Jay College.

The Council of Orthodox Jewish Organizations (COJO) is an umbrella organization representing nearly thirty institutions on the West Side of Manhattan, including synagogues, adult education and outreach centers, institutes of higher learning, day schools and others.

COJO arranges for and provides various services to the West Side community by establishing relationships with important local institutions. For example:

• In order to promote the security of local residents, COJO distributes emergency communication devices, maintains ongoing contacts with the New York Police Department, and has engaged the services of a professional security adviser.
• In the field of education, COJO has obtained a grant from the State of New York which supports pre-school programs for four-year-old children.
• In the field of health, COJO works together with Roosevelt Hospital to organize health education sessions which are conducted on-site at member institutions.

COJO represents its community to local elected officials and other city and state agencies. Thus, it ensures that government is cognizant of and sensitive to the needs of the community and that those needs are met to the greatest extent possible.

COJO is led by Rabbi Allen Schwartz, President, and Mr. Michael Landau, Chairman.

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