New Zealand charitable trust funds Israeli Alzheimer centre
The Ramat Gan Alzheimer Research and Treatment Centre will benefit from a US$500,000 donation from the Lady Marion Davis Memorial (Hospitals) Foundation.
The Auckland-based foundation was established by Perpetual Guardian in 1997 for the purpose of assisting hospitals in Israel and around the world.
Small in size, however, big in heart – New Zealanders already rank near top of the globe for generosity.
Andrew Barnes
Last year’s World Giving Index ranked New Zealand third for generosity, behind only Myanmar and the United States, and up from fifth place in 2014.
This year, further generosity and prudent financial management is proving beneficial to patients of .
New Zealand’s leading statutory trust business, Perpetual Guardian, was created with the recent coming together of Perpetual Trust and Guardian Trust. As 2 of New Zealand’s oldest trustee companies, they have over 130 years of experience in providing estate-planning options for Kiwis.
Lady Marion’s son, Desmond Davis, who made provisions and specifications in his will, set up the foundation.
The funds will be distributed over a five-year period and will help to construct and support a new outpatient day care centre within the organization. The day care is unique in that people with Alzheimer’s who live at home will have access to the centre’s facilities, as there will be extensive inpatient services to outpatients.
The Ramat Gan Alzheimer Research and Treatment Centre
Within the centre, incapacitated patients and their families will also receive essential services like: nursing care, emotional therapies, social guidance and social and occupational assistance.
Perpetual Guardian’s Founder Andrew Barnes says of the distribution, “Desmond Davis enhanced the remarkable legacy of his generous family by leaving instructions for the establishment of the foundation, which is specifically intended to honour her memory.
The foundation, while having a global outlook, specifically mentions hospitals in Israel and around the world. This particular gift will have far-reaching benefits for patients of the Ramat Gan Centre, and it is a wonderful example of the diverse ways in which philanthropy can be practiced and how the people of one nation can help another.”
Nitai Eilash, the Managing Director of Ramat Gan Alzheimer Research and Treatment centre arrived in New Zealand earlier this month with his wife for a celebratory event at Perpetual Guardians head office. Local Rabbi Natan Friedler, Senior Rabbi of the Auckland Hebrew Congregation (AHC), and Clifford Gascoigne, a member of the Davis family also attended the event.
Mr Eilash says: “We are enormously grateful to the late Desmond Davis and to Perpetual Guardian for fulfilling his wishes for the purpose of the trust established in Lady Marion Davis’ name.
These funds enable us to offer essential services to patients and their families who come for day care, which is most suitable for those in the initial stages of Alzheimer’s. They can visit on a flexible schedule that suits their needs and capabilities, and may choose only the services they require at any given time. This treatment model has been presented to the relevant welfare authorities in Israel and has been welcomed as an innovative step,” says Mr Eilash.
The Lady Marion Davis Memorial (Hospitals) Foundation is one of many of Perpetual Guardian charitable trusts that provide large-scale support of health care services. The Davis family also created another major fund, known as the Ted & Mollie Carr Endowment Fund, which was established in 1992 and has grown to $40 million
The fund’s founder, Yvonne (Mollie) Carr, is the daughter of Sir Ernest and Lady Marion and sister of Desmond Davis shared the same concerns for sick and poverty-stricken people in the Auckland region.
In 2015, the Carr Endowment Fund formed a strategic partnership with the University of Auckland Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences to provide $413,000 to the Dementia Pathways Project over four years. The fund also gifted $245,000 to a Ronald McDonald House project, $100.000 to Cure Kids’ epilepsy gene discovery research project and $50,000 towards upgrading operating rooms and surgical facilities at Starship Children’s Hospital.
