Make a difference with the Paterson Rotary Foundation, Inc, concentrating on our Gift of Life Child
How does it work?
The Rotarians and volunteers who administer the GOL program and who give endless hours of their time to host, transport and provide love and support to the children and their parents, receive no pay. The cost to sponsor a child in full is currently $6,000. Corporate sponsorships range from $500 to $6,000. Families may host a child and the parent during their stay in the United States. It is the experience of a lifetime and considered by many as a defining moment in their lives. Other volunteer opportunities include translation, transportation, or the donation of other non-monetary items such as car seats, strollers, highchairs, large suitcases and duffel bags. For more information on GOL volunteer opportunities, please contact us
What is a Gift of Life Child?
Approximately 1.3 million children are born each year with a heart defect, 93% of whom do not have access to cardiac care. Gift of Life connects sponsors and doctors in our area with children in developing countries, providing lifesaving cardiac treatment. All the children that we help are afflicted with some sort of cardiac defect or disease. Most of these ailments are congenital. Most of these children require open heart surgery in order to live a productive and normal life. Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) are the #1 birth defect in ALL countries around the world. In the United States alone 25,000 babies are born each year with CHD. That is one in every 115 babies born. Expectant women in third world countries lack basic nutrition, prenatal care and sanitary living conditions, which places their unborn children at greater risk for CHD. Once born, these children often do not receive even the most basic of medical care.
Gift of Life History
The Gift of Life (GOL) Program was first conceived in 1974 by the Manhasset Rotary Club of Long Island, NY. In 1986 it was brought to the Clubs of New Jersey’s Rotary District 7490 by our own member PDG Art Scialla Sr. (Passaic, Bergen and Hudson Counties), as a 501(c)(3) Foundation. The stated purpose was to provide cardiac surgeries to children from around the world. Since its inception, GOL has helped save the lives of over 700 children. In addition to providing surgeries for these children performed both domestically and abroad, GOL also works in their home countries to educate the medical profession, provide medical equipment, and raise the standard of living thus lowering the potential incidence of congenital heart defects.
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