Los Angeles philanthropists raise $12 million for United Hatzalah

Over 1,000 people attended the United Hatzalah of Israel Gala in Los Angeles on Wednesday, in which $12 million were raised for the organization. 

Among those in attendance were Rick Caruso, former Los Angeles mayoral candidate, entrepreneur Scooter Braun and Gal Gadot who joined via video. 

Eli Beer, President and founder of the emergency organization stated, “It is more important now than ever to host our Los Angeles Gala. The philanthropists in Los Angeles who contributed to our emergency fundraising campaign after October 7 are all part of the amazing effort that enables United Hatzalah to save as many lives as we do.”

'A response time of less then three minutes'

Michael Milken, one of the organization’s supporters, who received the “Humanitarian Award” during the night said, "600,000 to 700,000 people are treated each year, with response times as short as three minutes in some areas and less than 90 seconds in others.”

“How many lives have been saved by this one idea, by this one organization? More than two decades ago, our family pivoted to create Faster Cures, an organization dedicated to the idea of shortening the time to find cures and better treatments for life-threatening illnesses. From the beginning, our tagline has been 'Time Equals Lives,'" Milken added.

"I cannot think of one organization that lives up more to the motto of 'Time Equals Lives' than United Hatzalah," he continued. 

According to the organization, it treated over 4,000 wounded in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre, both soldiers and civilians.  

It is the largest Emergency Medical Service organization composed solely of volunteers.