On Saturday, June 7th, National Jewish Health will hold its Black and White Gala at The Beverly Hills Hotel, honoring Debbie Steinberg, Vice President at CIT Trade Finance and Paul Zaffaroni, Director, Investment Banking at ROTH Capital Partners. The two honorees will receive the organization’s prestigious Humanitarian Award for their significant civic and charitable contributions.
Ginny Mumm, who helps our sponsors with their posts for this page, sat down with Debbie and Paul to talk about the work and life experiences that led to them receiving this honor.
First, please tell us a bit about the work being done by National Jewish Health.
National Jewish Health was started in 1899 as a charity hospital for patients with respiratory diseases, and still today it treats patients regardless of their ability to pay. NJH is both a world class research institution as well as a treatment facility.
Not only are they the #1 respiratory hospital in the nation for 16 consecutive years, they are the only facility of its kind that has a fully accredited school on campus to treat chronically ill children from K-8th grade.
What work and life experiences led you to become involved with this organization?
Debbie: I have been involved with several industry charities during my career and believe in “giving back.” I know personally more than 3 personal and business associates that has been helped by NJH and being an L.A. professional it made sense to help support my associates as well as help spread the word for great work they are doing nationwide.
Paul: I’m involved with several charities and attended my first National Jewish Health event in 2009 when Mark Brutzkus and James Perse were honored. I was very impressed with the hospital and their mission of providing high quality care to folks that otherwise would not have access to it. Their physicians have the right balance between research and clinical care which is why they attract patients from all over the world.
What are your goals for National Jewish Health?
We want people from all over to know that this hospital and organization exists, and it helps people nation and worldwide. The first thing we do is take a breath and if our work for this charity helps someone breathe easier than it was all worth it.
We hope to raise $500,000 and we are proud to say we are almost there. We were sold out 5 weeks before the event date.
Aside from your award presentation, what else can attendees look forward to on the evening of the Gala?
We have a fabulous program planned with music by the Bob Cowsill Band (a throwback to the 70’s) with amazing opportunities for golf at world class private clubs, travel and entertainment packages, as well as attendance to live hard to get seats at the #1 TV reality show and tickets for the major music award show with after show party passes.
It should be a wonderful evening.
