One morning, Mrs. Kimchi sat down to breakfast with her husband, picked up the newspaper and saw on the front page a picture of Mr. Abba Eban, then Israeli Ambassador, and his wife Suzy returning to Israel.
She immediately said to her husband: "That's it. We've found the right person. She'll be our Ambassador". She spoke with Dr. Hirsh and Prof. Berenblum and they agreed.
In the mid-1950's, Mrs. Suzy Eban, of blessed memory, responded to the call of Prof. Isaac Berenblum, the first Director of the Department of Cancer Research at the Weizmann Institute, and one of ICA's founders. Prof. Berenblum requested her assistance in leveraging the ICA's activity, as well as her help in further expanding its efforts to conduct activity on a national scale.
In 1958, a need arose for support in the managerial sphere. The organization placed an ad in the paper to which Mrs. Miriam Klein responded. At first, she served as secretary of the ICA, then assumed the position of Director, taking over for Mrs. Kimchi, who remained on the Executive Committee.
Mrs. Suzy Eban officially became President of the ICA in 1959. She served in this position with determination, great faith and single minded devotion, until she retired from active service in 1998, after 40 years of broad-based activity.
During her presidency, Suzy enlisted several professionals, public figures and well-known personalities, who assisted her in transforming the ICA into a leading national organization aiming to reduce cancer morbidity and mortality in Israel by advancing the fight against cancer on all fronts; through research, by promoting preventative measures and early detection, enhancing treatment modalities and rehabilitation, and running national programs geared toward cancer patients, survivors and the public at large.
As the wife of a statesman, Suzy Eban used her name, status and many personal ties and connections in Israel and around the globe to her advantage, addressing herself to individuals holding key positions in the business, medical, and financial worlds, and thanks to her persistence and her engaging personality, she leveraged the ICA and transformed it into a spearhead in the fight against cancer diseases in Israel.
Upon her appointment as President, Mrs. Eban began raising funds from her friends abroad and with their help established worldwide Friends of ICA chapters. These chapters raised funds to run programs and projects at oncology centers throughout Israel to benefit cancer patients. Under her leadership, the ICA became Israel's most prominent volunteer organization, a highly reputed and professionally managed non-profit, both on a national and international scale. ICA became affiliated with the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), and over the years, grew in budget and personnel, establishing ties with hospitals and various healthcare funds.
ICA's Executive Committee heard about the Door Knock fundraising campaign for heart diseases held in Australia. And that's how the first ICA Door Knock® fundraising campaign got off the ground in 1960, organized and led by Mrs. Suzy Eban. Ever since then, this campaign has become a milestone in educating youth toward volunteer work and charity, and promoting health education in schools and among the general population. For the first ICA Door Knock® fundraising campaign, she enlisted the media to promote the cause and persuaded then President of Israel, Mr. Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, of blessed memory, to serve as Israel Cancer Association's Patron. Thanks to her efforts, from that day forward, the Israeli presidents have officially launched the ICA's annual Door Knock® fundraising campaign, and continue to do so to this very day, with a moving gala ceremony held at the President's Residence in Jerusalem.
With the professional foundation already in place, Mrs. Suzy Eban could enter the scene and promote the Israel Cancer Association, introduce the organization to the general public, and ignite it with momentum to move forward.
Since then, the ICA has developed in different directions, both nationally and internationally. The Door Knock® fundraising campaign and generous donations enabled broad-based professional activity. The outstanding staff under the direction of Mrs. Suzy Eban and Mrs. Miriam Klein, followed by Mrs. Miri Ziv in 1992, developed the Association into an organization we can be proud of.
Mrs. Miriam Klein established ICA's Tele-meida information service in the 1980s when she received all cancer-related public information materials from various volunteer organizations abroad. ICA translated these materials into Hebrew and established a computerized database that helped Mrs. Klein monitor and collect information.
Mrs. Miriam Klein recalls: "When I began working at the ICA, I didn't know what lay in store for me. But everything I have accomplished has served a purpose and has yielded results over the years. When I first started, there were two Breast Clinics in the entire country. One was located in Haifa and the other was Dr. Hirsh's clinic in Tel Aviv. Thanks to ICA's activity, as time went by, and due to the increasing need and heightened public awareness, more and more clinics sprung up". Throughout the years, the fight against breast cancer became one of ICA's primary causes.