Who We Are
Our Mission
To further the cause of world peace and understanding by facilitating free
medical services, primarily to children suffering from heart defects and
other similar or allied illnesses, regardless of race, gender, creed or national
origin, and who would otherwise lack access to such services.
Vision
Gift of Life International (GOLI) is the umbrella organization which provides support and coordination to individual GOL programs around the world. In tandem, they help save the lives of hundreds of children each year.
In the fall of 2008, GOLI and GOL programs around the world celebrated the saving of their 10,000th life. While this was a significant milestone for our family of Rotarians, volunteers and healthcare professionals, the need for more and more help remains. It is in this light that GOLI has set an aggressive goal of saving the lives of 30,000 children over the next decade. This will necessitate an increase in the number of children we identify, transport, treat, help recuperate and return home healthy by 2,000 each year! We base the strategy for achieving this goal on these three principles:
- Develop sustainable pediatric cardiac care programs in countries which currently do not have them
- Provide pediatric surgical training to regional cardiologists to create surgical self-reliance for medical teams
- Identify and cultivate reliable funding sources
- Increase the global awareness of GOLI
In order to meet our goal, GOLI has instituted a program that embodies the above noted principles. The program is called "Our Hearts Are In...." Each year GOLI will select a country upon which to focus the global network of GOL. In 2009 it was Uganda, and 2010 saw "Our Hearts Are In...." travel to El Salvador. 2011's effort is in the country of Jamaica.
This effort will highlight the strengths of our organization while publicizing the needs of a specific country and its children. The residual effect will be to strengthen the cohesiveness of our organization, foster a feeling of community, and make people aware of the suffering throughout the world and show them that they can make a difference if they involve themselves. And it will increase the potential of our network to save the lives of more children than ever before.
Our plans for "Our Hearts Are In…" have gone extraordinarily well, and we have saved many children and established pediatric cardiac programs in these areas.
Our Progress
There are 66 Gift of Life programs throughout the world and we have treated children from 67 countries on 6 continents. Click here to view a list of all countries served by GOLI.
Gift of Life was founded by Rotary District 7250 with the collaboration of Rotary Districts and clubs around the world. Click here to view a list of GOL Rotary partners.
The 66 GOL Programs and their respective members have treated and saved the lives of more than 12,000 children from 67 countries on 6 continents.
Through generous funding provided by corporations, businesses, civic organizations, Foundations and individuals, GOLI has coordinated and provided surgical missions for hundreds of surgeons, nurses, and medical personnel in over 20 different countries. The "Our Hearts Are In..." program ensures that regional facilities are staffed with surgeons specializing in pediatric cardiac surgeries, thus enabling many children afflicted with congenital heart defects (CHDs) to remain in their relative areas or countries for treatment.