Yad Sarah

Yad Sarah is a national Israeli volunteer organization best known for lending medical and rehabilitative equipment to people who are ill, disabled, elderly, injured, or recovering at home. Its name means “Memorial to Sarah,” honoring the grandmother of founder Uri Lupolianski, who was murdered in the Holocaust. The organization developed from a small household gemach, or free-loan service, in the 1970s into one of Israel’s largest volunteer-based social-service networks. The organization’s central service is the free or low-cost loan of home-care equipment. Its inventory includes wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, hospital beds, oxygen equipment, shower chairs, commodes, infant scales, apnea monitors, assistive technologies, and other short-term-use items. Borrowers generally provide a refundable deposit and can use equipment for a limited period, allowing families to avoid purchasing expensive devices needed only during recovery or a temporary change in care needs. Donated equipment is repaired, refurbished, and redistributed through regional workshops and lending branches. Yad Sarah’s work extends beyond equipment. Its services include oxygen provision, wheelchair-accessible transportation, a 24-hour emergency alarm response system, meals and laundry assistance for people confined to their homes, volunteer home visits, minor home repairs, legal and social assistance for older people, geriatric dentistry, day rehabilitation, disability-oriented fitness and computer programs, and activities for retirees. It also operates a children’s play and developmental-support center and a mobile lending library of specialized toys, games, and books for children with disabilities. The organization serves people across religious, ethnic, and social communities, including Jews, Christians, Muslims, Druze, and visitors to Israel with disabilities. Its network includes branches in cities, development towns, Arab communities, hospitals, and private homes. Reference material describes a national infrastructure of 126 lending branches as of 2022, with approximately 300,000 items covering about 300 categories of medical and rehabilitative equipment. Yad Sarah also maintains resource and demonstration centers where users can test equipment and receive practical guidance. Yad Sarah relies heavily on volunteers and donations rather than direct government funding. Its volunteer base includes people of different ages, backgrounds, and abilities, supported by a salaried administrative and professional staff. Volunteers repair equipment, transport clients, answer emergency calls, visit homebound people, provide legal and social support, and assist with community programs. The organization has also developed training in equipment parts assembly for unemployed older immigrants, linking its service model with employment and skills development. Although its core operations are domestic, Yad Sarah has shared its experience internationally and helped establish or support comparable equipment-lending and rehabilitation initiatives in countries including Angola, Cameroon, El Salvador, Russia, South Africa, and Jordan. Its social-impact model has received Israeli and international recognition, including the Israel Prize and consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Yad Sarah’s positioning is that of a practical, community-rooted humanitarian organization: it combines volunteer labor, donated goods, repair and reuse, professional guidance, and low-cost services to reduce institutional care and enable independent living.

Yad Sarah began in the 1970s when Uri Lupolianski established a small household lending service after his family needed a vaporizer that was difficult to obtain for short-term use. He purchased several vaporizers and lent them to neighbors. As word spread, members of the community donated crutches, walkers, wheelchairs, and other items that families might need temporarily but could not easily afford or locate. With seed funding from Lupolianski’s father, Yaakov Lupolianski, and guidance from Kalman Mann, then director general of Hadassah Medical Center, the local gemach was incorporated as a nationwide nonprofit organization in 1976. Lupolianski named it Yad Sarah in memory of his grandmother Sarah, who was murdered during the Holocaust. The organization retained the original lending principle while developing a broader network of volunteers, branches, repair facilities, and professional services. Equipment lending became the foundation of Yad Sarah’s operating model. Donated items are collected, assessed, repaired, and returned to circulation. This approach allows the organization to provide equipment without charging normal commercial prices and reduces waste by extending the useful life of medical and assistive devices. Over time, its stock expanded from basic mobility aids to hospital beds, oxygen systems, monitoring devices, bathroom equipment, and high-tech assistive products. The organization also established demonstration and resource centers to help users and families choose and operate suitable equipment. Yad Sarah subsequently broadened its work into a network of community-care services. These include oxygen support, accessible transportation, emergency alarms, meals and laundry for people at home, home repairs, regular visits to isolated older people, legal assistance, dental care, rehabilitation centers, disability-oriented fitness and computer programs, children’s developmental activities, and recreation for retirees. Many services are free or offered for a nominal or subsidized charge, with volunteers carrying out a substantial portion of the practical work. By 2022, reference material described 126 lending branches across Israel, including locations in major cities, development towns, Arab villages, hospitals, and private homes. The network held roughly 300,000 items across about 300 types of medical and rehabilitative equipment. Four regional warehouses supported repair and refurbishment, while the Jerusalem headquarters and central warehouse served as a major logistical center. The organization’s reach includes multiple religious and ethnic communities and is not limited to one population group. Yad Sarah has also shared its methods abroad, helping establish or develop related equipment-lending centers and repair workshops in several countries. Its institutional recognition includes the Kaplan Prize for efficiency, the Israel Prize for its contribution to society and the State of Israel, and recognition by the United Nations. In 2004 it received nongovernmental-organization observer status, and in 2005 it was granted consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Yad Sarah remains a donation-supported, volunteer-centered organization. Its operating philosophy combines local accessibility, reuse and repair, professional support, and assistance that enables people to remain in their homes rather than relying unnecessarily on hospitals or long-term-care institutions.

• 2022

  National lending network documented

  [1]Yad Sarahen.wikipedia.org

  Reference material describes 126 branches, approximately 300,000 stocked items, and about 300 categories of medical and rehabilitative equipment.

• 2005

  ECOSOC consultative status

  [1]Yad Sarahen.wikipedia.org

  The UN Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations upgrades Yad Sarah’s status to an advisory role with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

• 2004

  United Nations NGO recognition

  [1]Yad Sarahen.wikipedia.org

  The United Nations recognizes Yad Sarah as a nongovernmental organization and grants it observer status.

• 1994

  Israel Prize

  [1]Yad Sarahen.wikipedia.org

  Yad Sarah receives the Israel Prize for its special contribution to society and the State of Israel.

• 1990

  Kaplan Prize for Efficiency

  [1]Yad Sarahen.wikipedia.org

  Yad Sarah receives the Kaplan Prize in recognition of organizational efficiency.

• 1982

  Founder receives the President’s Award for Volunteering

  [1]Yad Sarahen.wikipedia.org

  Uri Lupolianski is recognized for volunteer service.

• 1976

  Yad Sarah is incorporated

  [1]Yad Sarahen.wikipedia.org

  The local gemach is organized as a nationwide nonprofit with support from Yaakov Lupolianski and medical guidance from Kalman Mann.

• 1970

  Household lending service begins

  [1]Yad Sarahen.wikipedia.org

  Uri Lupolianski begins lending vaporizers and later other short-term medical and mobility items from his home.

A volunteer-led Israeli humanitarian and social-care organization focused on practical assistance, independent living, home-based recovery, equipment reuse, and community inclusion.

• Healthcare support

  Medical and rehabilitative equipment lending

  Yad Sarah lends home-care and rehabilitation equipment, including wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, hospital beds, oxygen concentrators, oxygen cylinders, shower chairs, commodes, infant scales, apnea monitors, and assistive technologies. Loans are generally free, with a refundable security deposit, and are intended for temporary needs such as illness, injury, recovery, disability, or post-hospital care. Donated equipment is inspected, repaired, and refurbished before being returned to service.

• Emergency response

  Emergency alarm service

  Yad Sarah operates a 24-hour emergency response service for people who may need immediate assistance at home. Users receive transmitters that can be mounted on a wall or worn on the wrist. Volunteers install, maintain, and repair the devices, while the response center provides a point of contact for subscribers. The organization has also installed alarm transmitters in kindergartens and nursery schools.

• Accessible transportation

  Wheelchair transportation

  Specially equipped vans transport wheelchair users to medical appointments, Yad Sarah activities, social events, errands, and polling places. The service also supports disabled tourists with airport pickup and return transportation. It extends the organization’s home-care mission by helping people with mobility limitations participate in healthcare and community life.

• Community care

  Homebound support services

  Homebound services include delivery of prepared meals, laundry collection and return for people dealing with incontinence, minor household repairs, and regular volunteer visits. Visits may involve handicrafts, computer instruction, recording or typing life stories, and wheelchair outings. The programs are designed to reduce isolation and help older or disabled people remain safely connected to their communities.

• Dental care

  Geriatric dentistry

  Yad Sarah provides subsidized dental services for older people through a geriatric dental clinic at its Jerusalem headquarters and a mobile clinic serving people at home or in residential facilities. Volunteer dental surgeons, hygienists, and dental students participate in treatment. Patients pay part of the cost, with Yad Sarah covering the remainder through its nonprofit support model.

• Rehabilitation

  Day rehabilitation centers

  Day rehabilitation centers help adults regain function and independence after illness or injury. Programs include art therapy, music, horticulture, social activities, holiday events, fitness, and computer instruction. Participants may arrive using wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, or Yad Sarah transportation. Reference material identifies centers in Jerusalem, Rishon LeZion, Beersheba, Ra’anana, and Netanya.

• Child disability support

  Children’s play and developmental services

  The Jerusalem Play Center supports children with mild to moderate developmental delays through guided activities in themed play rooms, including creative, imaginative, quiet, sensory, game, and computer areas. Parents participate in orientation and skills programs so that therapeutic play can continue at home. Yad Sarah also operates a mobile lending library of specialized toys, games, and books for children with disabilities.

1. 1Yad Sarahen.wikipedia.org