Investors Bank and Investors Foundation Form Alliance with Boro Park Hatzolah

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Investors Bank, which is focused on making a positive difference in the communities it serves, is forming a multi-year alliance with Boro Park Hatzolah, the largest volunteer emergency medical service (EMS) in Brooklyn. The Bank will donate $100,000 to Boro Park Hatzolah, an amount that will cover a portion of the costs to build and equip the nonprofit organization’s new dispatch and EMS training center at 14^th Avenue and 37^th Street.

Additionally, the Investors Foundation, which supports nonprofit organizations that enrich the communities served by Investors Bank, has awarded a $100,000 grant to Boro Park Hatzolah. The funds, made available over a five-year period, will be used to purchase equipment and materials for the dispatch center.

Boro Park Hatzolah will discuss its new EMS Dispatch Center at a ceremony in Investors Bank’s Boro Park branch (4624 13^th Avenue at 45^th Street) at 3 p.m.

Scheduled to open April 2013, the facility will be called the Berkowitz Hatzolah building. Inside the spacious area will be room to park nine ambulances, and the structure will house an advanced communications room for dispatching emergency medical crews and a training area for volunteers. Also, there is space for an emergency crisis center and the Hilman community education floor for presentations on such topics as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), health, wellness and first aid.

In announcing the alliance, Boro Park Hatzolah Coordinator Bernie Gips, said, “The Investors Foundation and Investors Bank have lived up to their name by ‘reinvesting’ in our organization, which serves the entire community of Brooklyn. Their generous grants and donations go a long way toward assisting Hatzolah with its lifesaving endeavors and helping us achieve our goal of establishing a new headquarters.”

For over 35 years, Boro Park Hatzolah’s emergency medical technicians (EMTs) have quickly responded when their neighbors have asked for help. Annually, the organization’s 180 specially trained volunteers answer 16,000 separate calls, or about 50 each day. Hatzolah’s EMTs and paramedics use fully equipped ambulances that are dispatched 24 hours a day to assist people in Boro Park, Bensonhurst, Sea Gate, Bay Ridge, Park Slope and communities across Brooklyn.

“We are grateful to dedicated volunteers who provide critical lifesaving services,” said Investors Bank President and CEO Kevin Cummings.  “When a loved one, friend, or neighbor needs emergency care, we are all comforted by the arrival of skilled EMTs who know how to assist the stricken person and put family members at ease. We are proud to support this organization, which saves lives each day.”

“For decades, Hatzolah’s dedicated volunteers have been the fastest responders in the country and a lifeline for the residents of Boro Park and beyond. Kudos to Investors Bank for supporting Haztolah’s new dispatch and EMS training center. We are thrilled that Investors is such an exceptional corporate citizen and continues to ‘bank’ on Brooklyn—not only by opening branches throughout the borough and creating jobs, but by supporting local organizations and giving back to the neighborhoods they serve.”