WIZO UK’s Commitment Dinner 2024

Over 200 WIZO UK supporters gathered at the Sheraton Park Lane in March for our first gala dinner in six years, raising £436,000 for WIZO’s grief and trauma support work in Israel, which has become more critical than ever in the wake of the October 7 attacks.

The dinner saw the presentation of WIZO UK’s Commitment Awards, honouring those working to “make the world a better place”, a sentiment that has never seemed so important. The key speaker was teenage musician Lara Pines, who made aliyah from Argentina weeks before the Hamas atrocities and has benefited greatly from WIZO’s support.

There were six categories in the awards – sponsored by David Dangoor in memory of his parents Renee and Sir Naim Dangoor and judged by a panel chaired by businessman and star of The Apprentice Claude Littner.

The judges chose Bianca Sakol as winner of the WIZO Major Achievement Award as an “inspiring woman leading the way”. She was motivated to set up the charity Sebby’s Corner after attempting to find somewhere to donate clothes her children had outgrown. She is now an MBE in recognition of her charity’s help for thousands of vulnerable children.

The Women in Leadership prize went to Naomi Russell, founder of Food Bank Aid, which has provided more than £4 million of practical support to struggling households over the past four years.
Esty Bruck, programme director of Manchester-based The Friendship Circle, helping those with disabilities, won the Girls’ and Women’s Education Award.

For the Inclusion and Diversity in the Media category, the judges selected blogger and influencer Hen Mazzig, noting that his 250,000-plus Instagram followers have been provided with “consistent and excellent” content since October 7 which was informative to young people and Jews fighting antisemitism online.

David Fraser of the Ready10 group was the victor in the Equality in the Workplace section and Mel Boda took the Changed Women’s Lives prize, recognising her company Electric Umbrella’s art therapy work.

A separate Changing Lives accolade went to Charly Young, co-founder of The Girls’ Network and the Equilibrium Gender Collective.

In her emotional address, Lara Pines told guests that her family had left Argentina because of safety concerns. But since October 7, she had been filling her school backpack with clothes instead of educational supplies “just in case you have to run to a bunker”.

Although she had felt scared at times, she credited her school in WIZO’s Hadassim Youth Village near Netanya for encouraging her musical talents while helping her and her friends “to live a childhood that is as normal as possible”.  She sees her music as a form of therapy in difficult moments.

Lara’s musical abilities were showcased in a performance for the dinner guests and there was further musical entertainment from Opera Holland Park members and its director of opera James Clutton.

James was interviewed by Countdown presenter Rachel Riley, who joined Claude Littner and David Dangoor in handing out the Commitment Awards and also amused the audience with an attempt to conduct the orchestra.

Welcoming guests, WIZO UK chair Annabel Stelzer updated them on WIZO’s efforts in Israel to deal with the diverse issues experienced by citizens since October 7, from trauma to a huge spike in domestic violence. She reported that the charity had stepped up activities, opening day care centres for the children of medical professionals, freeing their parents for their emergency duties.
“WIZO has extended its web of caring in response to the tragic events of October 7th to address the deep collective trauma Israel is facing with a view to building resilience.”

And in a heartfelt message of support, Israeli President Isaac Herzog reflected on the importance of WIZO within his family.