Finding love while saving lives

Sometimes volunteering at Magen David Adom instils more than just a sense of helping others and doing good deeds. Sometimes love blooms among volunteers. This Valentine’s Day, here are the stories of three couples who found their soulmate on a shift and for whom MDA holds a very special place in their hearts.

EDEN & HILA

Eden and Hila Gigi met in 2010 when they were just 15, on a Magen David Adom youth volunteer course. They kept in touch after the course and fell in love while attending a party hosted by a mutual friend, whom they also knew from volunteering at MDA. Eden and Hila now have a child, live in Elifelet, a moshav in northern Israel near Rosh Pina, and they’re still volunteering for MDA.

Eden is a volunteer coordinator, responsible for volunteer medics in the field, and Hila works in MDA’s newly opened state-of-the-art Marcus National Blood Centre in Ramla.

“We are happy that our love grew through MDA and our work in the organisation,” say the Gigis. “MDA gave us the most beautiful thing there is, love, and we hope to give back through our work.”

NOAM & SHIR

Noam and Shir Levy met at MDA and were married last year. They live and serve in Israel’s embattled north. Their love story began during a shift at the Magen David Adom station in Nahariya. Noam knew that Shir would be working during a certain shift, so he made sure to work at the same time. The rest, as they say, is history.

The couple married in 2024 and continue to save lives together. Noam, 26, is a senior emergency medical technician (EMT)  at the MDA station in Carmiel. Shir, 25, began as a youth volunteer, went on to volunteer for MDA during her national service, and is now a volunteer EMT at MDA’s station in Nahariya where the couple live. “Life is surprising,” say the Levys; “you can find love in a place and situation you never dreamed. We thank MDA for bringing us together and are happy to save lives, especially since we are doing it together!”

ILANA & ELAD

EMTs Ilana and Eldad Shaked are a married couple who volunteer together for MDA. Ilana Shaked has been volunteering with Magen David Adom for 37 years and after she and Eldad were married 32 years ago, she inspired him to join MDA as well. They have been volunteering together ever since. Now Ilana, 66, and Eldad, 68, live in Sha’are Tikva, where they operate and maintain MDA’s intensive care bus together.

Through their work on the intensive care bus, the couple oversaw thousands of Covid vaccines being administered throughout the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

On October 7, the Shakeds were dispatched to southern Israel where they evacuated and saved the lives of dozens of injured people. “There is nothing more satisfying than volunteering and saving lives,” say the Shakeds, “especially since we do it together with great love for helping others and for each other.”

Magen David Adom has more than 30,000 medics, paramedics and volunteers (the organisation is Israel’s largest recruiter of volunteers) and brings together different people from different backgrounds across the length and breadth of the country.

From disenfranchised youths to underprivileged communities on the socio-economic fringe and people of every religion, ethnicity and gender – there is no part of Israeli society and culture that is not impacted by MDA. Even when the country feels divided, Magen David Adom draws people close. That is the power of saving lives and the power of love.

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