March 1, 2020

SACH at AIPAC

The AIPAC Policy Conference is the largest gathering of America's pro-Israel community. Through demonstrations of groundbreaking Israeli innovations, keynote speeches by American and Israeli leaders, inspiring moments on stage, and intimate educational sessions Policy Conference delegates experience the full scale of pro-Israel activism in three powerful days.
Save a Child's Heart was honored to be represented by Dr. Sagi Assa, Head of the Pediatric Interventional Cardiology department at the Wolfson Medical Center and Tamar Shapira, Deputy Director and Director of Public Relations, Save a Child's Heart. On the first day of the conference, Tamar spoke at a break out session on Israeli humanitarianism building buzz around the organization. The organization also had a special opportunity to share our work at a specially-designed booth in the AIPAC village. Our booth featured an eight-foot tall tower that had information about various SACH stories, including Fatma, our 5,000th child saved, Husan, the first child from Uzbekistan and Dr. Sagi Assa. We also had interactive maps displayed on ipads, inviting attendees to learn about specific SACH stories and engage directly with the people behind SACH. The stories were  chosen to highlight the diversity of our work, allowing people to connect to stories about children who were saved, doctors-in-training, the founder Ami Cohen, a volunteer/intern story and our impact on campuses. We were extremely fortunate to have a large group of lay leaders with us to help with the booth and networking. It was a great opportunity for us to connect and meet with one another.
Staff and lay leadership joined by Dr. Sagi Assa and Tamar Shapira at the SACH booth

Our time at AIPAC concluded with a featured video on the final day's plenary session. Produced by AIPAC, featuring the 5000th child and her mother, Balkis, who was treated by Save a Child's Heart more than 20 years ago, the video was watched by more than 10,000 attendees and streamed by tens of thousands around the world.

In the same week, we hosted a young professionals gathering where Dr. Sagi Assa and Tamar met with the local DC YP committee, medical students and residents as well as a 100-person event at the Embassy of Israel. Where the deputy Ambassador spoke as well as Tamar, and Dr, Sagi Assa.