On July 27, a special ambulance will be dedicated and shipped from Baltimore to Israel to help people in need, donated by a Baltimore County man in the memory of his late wife through Magen David Adom.
The ambulance will be donated by Lutherville resident Richard Grilli, and it will bear the name of his wife, Susan Grilli. The couple was married for over 40 years before Susan died after a six-year battle with breast cancer on May 8, 2024.
Grilli said he got the idea to donate an ambulance from a doctor who came and spoke at Beth El Congregation about a 30-day trip he had taken to Israel to assist with shock trauma patients.
“He mentioned that he was taking ambulances to get around, and there’s a great need for them,” Grilli said. “That really triggered my thought process. It would be something to honor my wife. She was the type of person who was always concerned about others.”
Grilli added that he has a daughter, Michelle Saltzman, son-in-law and four grandchildren who live in Israel.
The ambulance was donated through the American Friends of Magen David Adom, an organization that supports Israel’s emergency services system. AFMDA helps support that system through donations that can range from ambulances to EMT trainings to equipment.
“This donation seemed like the right thing at the right time, given what Israel’s been through. They have lost ambulances to Hamas and [other] terrorists. And so it was my feeling that this was the thing to do for my wife,” Grilli said.
After getting the idea, the husband called AFMDA and asked if he could make a donation, which started a yearlong process of building the vehicle in the U.S. before it could be dedicated and shipped overseas.
Grilli said Susan was a quiet person who shied away from being the center of attention but was heavily involved in the Jewish community and had a desire to give money and time to charity. He added that Israel was an important part of their lives, as they had lost many family members in the Holocaust and had taken their honeymoon trip to the country.
“Knowing my wife, she would say she doesn’t deserve this honor; it should be named after a parent or an in-law or some other relative. She wouldn’t want it in her name,” Grilli said. “She believed that the highest form of charity was anonymous, and she followed it. [But] she’d be very happy that we’re doing something positive.”
Grilli said the dedication ceremony of the ambulance will take place at a cemetery, where it will be unveiled and a Beth El rabbi will speak to do the dedication. The ambulance will then be moved to his driveway before it ships out through the Port of Baltimore.
He anticipates around 110 people attending the dedication. There will be a lunch in his backyard after the event to honor Susan’s memory. Family members will fly in from around the world, including his children Samuel Grilli and Michelle Saltzman and grandchildren.
For Grilli, the donation is both a chance to honor his wife and give back to Israel. He said the ambulance now has the chance to help Michelle, her family and countless others there.
“There’s plenty of people who have helped my daughter in Israel over the last four or five years get acclimated and get a job and get situated. And this is a way of giving back to Israel,” Grilli said.
With the donation set to ship off to Israel in the coming weeks, it will carry the love and selfless legacy of Susan Grilli to people in need.
“She [knew she] wasn’t the center of the universe, and that’s how she was. That’s what attracted me to her. One of her qualities was that she was modest, not self-assuming and not demanding, and she tried to be helpful to people. Her parents did a good job,” her husband said.
