Number 3 Simcha Holzberg Street (next to the Electric Company) is the new home for the Raanana branch of Yad Sarah. Located opposite Park Raanana, the branch supplies medical equipment, emergency alarms, and van services, and hopes to increase both the number of volunteers and the range of its services to include creative activities for the homebound, legal services, a rehabilitation center, guidance and exhibition center, and maintenance division for repair of medical equipment. The regional center was built from the estate of Henry J. and Dorothea Gould of Switzerland.

In 1976, from a small Jerusalem apartment, a young school teacher lent a vaporizer to a sick child, who recovered at home instead of in a hospital. The school teacher went on to operate the first Yad Sarah branch from his apartment, lending out free medical equipment.

Thirty years later, the guiding principle has not changed. Yad Sarah's mission is to improve the quality of life for those with special needs - the disabled, sick and elderly - by enabling them to function in their homes and natural surroundings. All of Yad Sarah's services share that common objective of allowing those in need to live as close to a normal life as possible.

YAD SARAH:

* Assists everyone, regardless of race, religion or nationality, through its 6,000 volunteers.

* Operates 104 branches in Israel, offering over 20 home care services.

* Helps other countries replicate services (200 centers in the FSU based on Yad Sarah model).

* Aids one in every two families in Israel at some time or another.

* Saves the Israeli economy $320 million annually, yet receives no ongoing government funding.

Yad Sarah's services include: lending of medical equipment, transport service for the wheelchair-bound, day rehabilitation centers, geriatric dental clinics, emergency alarm systems, outreach services for the homebound, support services for caregivers, meals on wheels, guidance and resource centers, enrichment center and toy library for special needs children, and more.

The Raanana branch is open from 09:00-19:30 on weekdays, and from 09:00-12:30 on Fridays and holiday eves, phone number 098-770-6600.

To become a volunteer, contact Yehudah Kleiner at 050 726 5828.

Other Yad Sarah branches in the Sharon Area:

Herzliya: 7 Borochov St., Tel. 09 958 712.  Kfar Sava, 12 Nitzanim St., Tel. 09 762 1111

Netanya: 8 Ychilov St, Tel. 09 830 3400