The Bank Shares the Wealth
In the highly competitive business of banking it is common to see these financial institutions spending large sums of money on advertising to attract new clients. But it certainly came as a surprise to the radio audience in Israel to hear a commercial from Bank Discount appealing for people to bring to its branches throughout the country old winter coats, sweaters, heaters, blankets and any other items which the bank would distribute to needy families "so that everyone would enjoy a warmer winter".
The bank did a great job of collecting the requested items as Jews once again demonstrated their generosity and their inability to simply discard an item no longer in use. But when it came to distributing the items, the bank official in charge of the project realized that the best channel was a "Gemach" used-clothing center catering to the financially strapped large families in the religious sector. The director of the "Beged Yad Leyad" network of used-clothing centers was pleasantly surprised to hear a man from the bank call her to ask if he could deliver a large shipment to her central branch. She couldn’t help but laugh when she recalled that upon hearing the commercial appeal she had wondered how a bank was going to handle distribution. Now that she got her answer she gladly welcomed the opportunity to help the bank share its new kind of wealth with the needy.
