About Ruth Shitrit

Ruth and Meir Shitrit’s eldest child, Miri, became ill with cancer and passed away when she was only 15. Since then, Shitrit invests her time and energy in helping children with cancer, as well as their families, in a number of ways that perpetuate the memory of her daughter.

Ruth Shitrit is a member of the Board of Directors of the “Israel Cancer Association”, a non-profit organization founded in 1952 and which aims to raise awareness of cancer and improve the quality of life of the cancer patients and reduce the morbidity and mortality rates. Shitrit is chairperson of the Foreign Operations Division of the Association.

In cooperation with the Cancer Association, Shitrit established the “Give Children the World”, where she serves as a member of the Administration. Every year the organization sends children in an advanced stage of cancer, together with their families, for a week-long stay at a unique holiday resort in Orlando, USA. There children with their parents, brothers and sisters, enjoy the numerous facilities and entertainment options.

Ruth Shitrit, together with her husband, Meir, established the Department of Pediatric Hemato-Oncology in the name of Miri Shitrit at the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.

In addition she also serves on the Board of Governors and the Board of Directors of the Tel Aviv Museum and member of the Board of Directors of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, where recently an auditorium and art gallery were inaugurated in the name of Miri Shitrit (of blessed memory).

In addition to her activiy in memory of het daughter, as well as activities for cancer patients and their families, Ruth Shitrit is active for the benefit of the community in various ways, for which she has received a number of awards and distinctions.

The Philharmonic Orchestra Foundation was established in 1981 to ensure that the orchestra will continue to serve as a model of excellence, determination and belief in the importance of Israeli culture and music. As a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors, Ruth Shitrit works to promote the Philharmonic Orchestra’s educational program, to finance its participation in festivals around the world and continue the magnificent tradition of excellence in the arts. For her work Shitrit received the award of “Worthy Person of the Orchestra."

Ruth Shitrit is a member of the Board of the "Hand in Hand" Association, which operates throughout the country to assist children at-risk and families in need, in various ways. Among other things, the association operates a number of “Warm Homes” throughout the country, to which children at-risk aged 3 – 7 come after the kindergarten hours, and remain there till six in the evening. In the framework of the "Warm Home" the children receive hot meals, emotional nutrition and cognitive enhancement, values education and a great deal of warmth and love. Shitrit, in addition to to her role in the administration of the Association, is the founder and principal financer of the “Warm Home” in Yavneh, her city of residence, and in fact helps care for more than twenty children from underprivileged families.

For these and many other activities Ruth Shitrit received the Presidential Volunteer’s Award in 1997, and again in 2008, as well as a special award from the President at that time, Shimon Peres. Furthermore, Shitrit received an Honorary Fellow Degree from the Board of Governors of the Tel Aviv Museum in recognition of her extensive activities on behalf of the museum.