raising money to build ambulances and other vehicles for Magen David Adom<\/a>, Israel\u2019s national emergency medical service. Saidel organizes those well-known, well-publicized dedications for the ambulances before they are shipped off.<\/p>\n\u201cI think it\u2019s helping people in their most vulnerable moments and offering them hope. It\u2019s helping people not only when there\u2019s a terrorist attack; it\u2019s being there when someone has a baby. It\u2019s making sure they\u2019re OK and cared for,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Saidel describes herself as \u201cPhiladelphia born and raised.\u201d She grew up in the northeast and graduated from George Washington High School.<\/p>\n
Her parents are here. Her siblings are here, too. She loves the Eagles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think I could ever leave,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But it was in high school in Northeast Philadelphia that she realized her \u201chappy place\u201d was somewhere else.<\/p>\n
Representatives from the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia put out an announcement to GW students saying, \u201cWe\u2019ll take 40 kids to Israel for 2 1\/2 weeks for $1,000.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt changed my life,\u201d Saidel said. \u201cI was always the kid who loved Hebrew school, but it wasn\u2019t until I went to Israel that I had such a powerful connection to the Jewish people.\u201d<\/p>\n
During those 2 1\/2 weeks, Saidel would walk around at 11 p.m. and feel safe. She would also speak with soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces about why it was important to them to serve.<\/p>\n
She developed a connection to the land and the people. She also recognized that \u201ceveryone belonged regardless of background.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I wanted to spend more time there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Saidel graduated from Penn State University in 2001 with a degree in advertising and public relations. At that moment, she faced a choice.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo I want to be marketing Nike or Coca-Cola, or do I want to do something that\u2019s important to me?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
Saidel went to Los Angeles to pursue a master of arts degree in communication management from the University of Southern California and a master of arts degree in Jewish communal service from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion-Los Angeles. She also interned with the Jewish Federation Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
The future major gifts officer had already learned to fundraise through her sorority during THON at Penn State, the well-known dance marathon that raises money for childhood cancer. She found she enjoyed that type of work at the Federation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never looked back,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Saidel went on to hold development roles at Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Camp Ramah in the Poconos, the Gershman Y and Lions Gate, a Jewish senior community.<\/p>\n
But it was a position as Mid-Atlantic regional director at the Birthright Israel Foundation that brought her back to her happy place. Saidel worked for the foundation for almost five years before moving on to American Friends of Magen David Adom.<\/p>\n
AFMDA is her longest professional stop yet. What she likes about the work is that it\u2019s \u201ctangible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Donors see their ambulance before it ships off to Israel. Later, they can learn statistics like the number of emergency calls that the vehicle responded to during a given time period.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are tangible things, instead of putting money into a bucket and not being sure where it goes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Saidel meets prospective donors at events, through other donors and during speaking engagements at synagogues, among other avenues of outreach. Since Oct. 7, more and more people have found the organization.<\/p>\n
Every conceivable metric for AFMDA has increased, including the number of people interested in contributing, the number of people who contribute and the number of events that AFMDA puts on.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say my work has quadrupled,\u201d Saidel said.<\/p>\n
As an experienced fundraiser, Saidel makes sure to listen to \u201cpeople and their passions.\u201d Every gift is \u201cpersonal to that person and their family,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Due to the tangible nature of AFMDA\u2019s work, the major gifts officer doesn\u2019t have trouble explaining its mission. But she is sure to remind potential donors of two details that can get lost in the shuffle: Magen David Adom is not funded by the Israeli government, and its efforts help everyone living in Israel, not just Jews.<\/p>\n
\u201cMagen David Adom is an apolitical organization. I think people really love that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
While the work helps everybody, it also builds up the Jewish state.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think whether or not you\u2019re in favor of one government or another, Israel has the right to exist. People have a right to live there. We should be supporting Israel and the right of Israel to exist,\u201d Saidel said.<\/p>\n
jsaffren@midatlanticmedia.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dawn Saidel at the American Friends of Magen David Adom gala in 2025 (Photo credit: Jordan Cassway Photography)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[37,66361,396],"class_list":["post-236042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-israel","tag-last-word","tag-people"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117039067544503542","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Last-Word-Dawn-Saidel.jpg\")
Dawn Saidel at the American Friends of Magen David Adom gala in 2025 (Photo credit: Jordan Cassway Photography)<\/p>\n