In our 33rd year The Gift of Life Foundation from Rotary District 7490 saved 29 more lives and have now saved a total of 1,301 lives since our inception in 1985.

 

 All of this has all been accomplished strictly on a volunteer basis by Rotarians and other charitable minded people who share of our Rotary values of Service Above Self.

 

We truly appreciate the extraordinary efforts of Dr. Khanh Nguyen, who operates at Westchester Medical Center and St, Joseph's Medical Center, Dr. Fuad Kiblawi from St. Joseph's, Dr. Mariano Brizzio from The Valley Hospital and Dr. Issenberg and Dr. Marcus Ero from Westchester Medical Center.

 

During 2018 we hosted 8 patients in-country who traveled from the Philippines and Bolivia to receive life-saving open heart surgeries at The Valley Hospital, Westchester Medical Center and St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center. We also saved the lives of 17 children in El Salvador via a global grant project spearheaded in 2017 by Ray Hough and the Paramus Rotary Club, 2 children from Myanmar through the efforts of Sophie Stone of the Paramus Sunrise Rotary Club and 2 more children in Ukraine through the leadership of George Kuzma of the Ukrainian Gift of Life.

In June 2018 we participated in an educational program which gave 3 doctors from Vietnam, Dr. Tran Nhu Bao Lan, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Hung and Dr. Vo Dai Quyen the opportunity to observe medical operations at Boston Children's Hospital. We met these doctors in Vietnam during a surgical mission lead by Dr. Kahn Nguyen. The doctors gained valuable experience by observing various pediatric heart surgeries during their 3 week stay. We partnered with the Boston Rotary Club, who provided valuable logistical transportation support and included the doctors as their guests at various social events.

 

The David and Carol Lackland Family Foundation generously contributed $100,000 in 2018 to the Gift of Life Foundation to provide much needed funds to help sponsor more medical missions and in-country surgeries.

Alan Fierstein of the Rachel Cooper Foundation has continued to provide additional funding for our Foundation by causing the Rachel Cooper Foundation to generously contribute $3,000 to our unrestricted funds each time a Gift of Life child is operated upon and actively interact with our gift of life patients who have in-country surgeries. Recently, the Rachel Cooper Foundation contributed $10,000 to help assist our planned 2019 mission to Kosovo.

 

The Gift of life Committee meets on the 3'' Wednesday of each month at 6:00 pm at CarePlus in Paramus. The meetings are open to all who would like to be involved. We hope that you join us in continuing the tradition of saving the lives of persons in developing countries who would otherwise have no hope of living a long and productive life.