It is difficult to say exactly when Ezer Mizion was established. Around 1976, the organization evolved from needs Chollak perceived in hospitals and in the community. Those in need were not just lower-income groups. Those who were financially better off also needed support and encouragement when a family member suddenly became ill.
“Just after I was married in 1975, my uncle had a stroke. He survived for a year, but during that period I spent a lot of time with him in the hospital. It was a very important experience for me because in that year I saw much illness and also many family members under great stress just in looking after their loved ones,” Chollak said.
“I noticed at the time that there was a mother who was helping to look after her child who was seriously ill with cancer,” he said. “This woman spent hour after hour at the hospital and she was constantly worried by the fact that she had other young children at home who also needed her attention. I told my friends we must help this woman so that she can leave her sick child for a short period and attend to the rest of her family without having to worry.”
Chollak arranged for eight neighbors to take turns helping the woman. Such was the success of the venture that he decided to extend and develop his aid program, which up until then had no name.
After his uncle died, Chollak established a nonprofit organization that he named Ezer Mizion (Aid From Zion), in memory of his uncle, Rabbi Ben Zion Bamberger.
Chollak, with his flair for organization, began to oversee Ezer Mizion’s development. Then as now, he was rarely at his desk — giving his attention instead to those in need. Today Ezer Mizion provides, free of charge, services across most of Israel to the sick and handicapped, children and elderly.
“There was a man who I used to see arriving at the hospital for dialysis,” Chollak recalls. “I found out that he had to come to the hospital three times a week and due to serious complications he had to be brought to the dialysis unit by ambulance. This had to be paid for, as the transportation was not covered by the sick fund. It was clear that the man could not afford to keep on paying for the expenses of the ambulance so I asked a friend of mine, who had a station wagon, if he could perhaps take the man to the hospital at least some of the time to save money.”
Soon Ezer Mizion had a list of volunteers it could count on to transport people to a hospital or clinic for treatment or tests.
On the whole, a hospital patient receives essential medical attention, but Israeli health funds do not stretch to include anything beyond the direct medical procedures. If patients require food beyond the hospital fare or better equipment, such as anti-bed-sore mattresses, they must fend for themselves.
Ezer Mizion has also carved a name for itself by caring for the family members at the patient’s bedside, who are generally ignored at hospitals. Health funds or state hospitals do not provide food for family members, which is the cause of additional stress.
Chollak told a story about a man who stayed in the hospital by his mother’s bedside. The man lived a long way from the hospital, making it difficult for him to get home, but he could not get anything to eat from the hospital.
“One of the senior nurses in the hospital heard about this man’s plight and suggested to him that if he agreed to do “sponger” [mopping duties], the hospital would provide him with food,” Chollak said. ” When I heard about this I was very angry, indeed, and I immediately went to the man and told him not to clean any more floors but just relax and help his sick mother. Ezer Mizion would provide him with food.”
Ezer Mizion now supplies more than 25,000 meals every month to those in need. The preparation of the meals is by volunteers, and great care is given to ensure that special dietary needs are met as well as specific attention is given to matters of kashrut.
In a short time, Ezer Mizion has developed far beyond Chollak’s dreams. In 1977 the organization consisted of about 150 people. Today there are 10,000 volunteers and 330 paid employees, consisting of office personnel and health professionals, as well as about 50 drivers for the 18 Ezer Mizion ambulances and 12 vans.
From its modest beginnings, Ezer Mizion has become one of the essential pillars in the fight against cancer. Apart from running the modern Oranit hostel for children suffering from the disease, Ezer Mizion has established a state-of-the art bone marrow registry, which holds tissue information of more than 100,000 Jewish donors worldwide.
In the spirit of Ezer Mizion, the Oranit hostel in Petach Tikvah enables the parents of children with cancer to stay with their children in comfortable, modern surroundings. Oranit is situated a few minutes from the Schneider Children’s Hospital, where most of the children receive their daily therapy.
Apart from its assistance to cancer patients, including special summer camps, Ezer Mizion has many programs for children with other ailments, such as cerebral palsy and behavioral problems.
Last year 400,000 people were direct recipients of paramedical services, and the organization’s ambulances and volunteer drivers made more than 170,000 journeys. Ninety percent of the $15 million needed annually to run Ezer Mizion is raised in Israel from donations and 10 percent is given by the government.
Although Ezer Mizion has grown, it is still not represented in the north and south of the country, because of monetary restraints. Chollak would like the organization’s services to be truly national, and one idea was to encourage Ezer Mizion chapters in the diaspora to adopt different towns and cities in Israel for fund-raising drives.