Our friend Joel Rappelfeld had a serious accident while traveling on a remote island of India. He and his wife Beth were on a motor-scooter and had a head-on collision with a car. Both of them were thrown off the bike. Luckily, Beth only suffered some broken toes and bruised ribs and is recuperating, but Joel unfortunately suffered the worst, severely injuring his pelvic bone. Thankfully, he is not paralyzed, but he needs to be immobilized while he is in the hospital, which, if you know Joel like I do, is torture for him.

This happened about 10 days ago, and needless to say, they have been through quite an ordeal. Presently, they're in a hospital in Port Blair a remote island in India where they are sharing a private room. Just in the last few days, they got the OK to be flown to Newark on Wednesday, February 5th, where he will be transported to NY Presbyterian Hospital.

He did have catastrophic injury insurance, but it's not going to pick up everything, and there will be expenses to help expedite his recovery and ease his discomfort along the way. I have held back from announcing his accident because they had to first get to a hospital that could initially stabilize him and then deal with the insurance companies, and I know our community would overwhelm him with get-well messages and offers to help. This is how we can help. I have known Joel for over 35 years, and he has always been a giver, and now he is in need.

I do not have everyone's email and some of his friends are not on social media so please feel free to share this with any of Joel's friends

I am trying to raise upwards of $25,000, so please contribute what you can. One other thing I ask with your gift; We have the opportunity to not only help him financially but to tell him how much he has meant to us, how he touched our lives. So, when you hopefully contribute, tell us a Joel story. Mine is: I would have never experienced a 2 month adventure in Australia and New Zealand if not for Joel.