Save A Child’s Heart Chapter Comes To Beren Campus

Anyone with a heart would want to be part of Save a Child’s Heart, and you know which people especially have a heart? Shayna Vadani (SCW ‘23) and Michaela Fiederer (SCW ‘23), co-presidents of the newest Save a Child’s Heart club on Beren Campus. 

Save A Child's Heart is a non-profit organization founded by Dr. Ami Cohen, whose mission is to provide lifesaving cardiac care to children who cannot afford it. They are based in Holon, Israel and consist of a team of volunteer doctors who perform cardiac surgeries with no pay. They have 70 clinics around the world, examined over 95,000 children and performed surgery on over 5,700. 

Beren’s SACH club is a chapter in the U.S., following in the footsteps of others, such as the one at Northwestern University. Vadani and Fiederer reached out to Nancy Pardo who is the U.S. young leadership director at SACH, and she helped them establish the new club. 

Vadani and Fiederer decided to start a Save a Child's Heart chapter on campus because it is such a unique opportunity for students to volunteer in Israel, whether from afar or near. The SACH club at Beren is focused on bringing awareness to the work that SACH and to raise money for their cause. “We hope that our presence on [Beren] will encourage students to visit Save a Child’s Heart in Israel and volunteer with them further in the future,” Vadani and Fiedere shared. 

“Everyone has ties to Israel, and it can bring them together because there are plenty of students who want to make aliyah,” said Vadani. They were pleasantly surprised when people came up to them at the club fair, mentioning that they heard of SACH and their enthusiasm with YU having their own chapter. “We were floored with the amount of people who showed interest in the club, we were definitely not expecting that many people to join,” said Fiederer.

“Our main goal of the club is to have a big presence on campus, because with that we can achieve all our future goals,” Shayne told The Commentator. The club aims to bring awareness to SACH and to fundraise money for their surgeries. There are also opportunities for students to volunteer with SACH, either in their clinics in Israel, or by being involved here. 

SACH first club event took place on Nov 15. First, a short film about the organization was shown, followed by the movie Tangled. The next event will be a fundraising event at the cycle bar in collaboration with the cycle club and all the proceeds will go to SACH. 

“We would ultimately like to raise $15,000 this year — enough to sponsor one lifesaving surgery,” added Michaela. Although there is no SACH chapter on Wilf yet, there may be opportunities for Wilf students to get involved, especially with fundraising. There is also a private link that anyone in YU can donate directly to SACH. So, open your wallets and more importantly, open your hearts.

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Photo Caption: Save a Child’s Heart also helps improve pediatric cardiac care.

Photo Credit: Save a Child’s Heart