420 runners raise 30K for disabled Israeli vets

Race through North Woodmere Park

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A Five Towns 5K race on Sunday attracted 420 runners to North Woodmere Park and raised $30,000 to support Beit Halochem rehabilitation centers in Israel. The centers have served over 51,000 disabled Israeli veterans since 1949.

The annual race, in North Woodmere Park, was organized by Friends of Israel Disabled Veterans, the U.S. arm of the Zahal Disabled Veterans Organization. Over six years, FIDV has raised nearly $200,000, according to race director Isaac Seinuk.

Beit Halochem’s four centers — a fifth is planned — are “not like hospitals,” Seinuk said. They provide veterans with the opportunity to participate in competitive sports, and to meet people disabled in conflicts going back to the war of independence, so they “see that life goes on they can have a full life.”

Dmitry Krasny crossed the finish line first in 18:29. Eliana Abittan was the first woman to finish, at 24:18.

Other winners included Mordechai Ovitz and his son, Hillel Ovitz, and, Jonathan Greenberg and Isaac Seinuk.