Our Hearts Are In El Salvador:Who We Are
History
Gift of Life (GOL) began as a project of the Manhasset Rotary Club on Long
Island, New York back in 1975. Rotarian Robbie Donno proposed to his club
that they bring a 5-year old Ugandan girl to the United States for open heart
surgery. This surgery was not available in Uganda and without it she would
perish. That single act of kindness over thirty years ago has grown
into a worldwide movement that now embodies itself in over 60 programs throughout
the world. These programs have treated children from 65 countries and six
continents.
In 2003, Gift of Life International (GOLI) was created to support and coordinate the efforts of GOL programs throughout the world. Over the years, GOLI has focused on four basic principles: (1) To increase the capacity of existing GOL programs to help children in need, (2) To promote the initiation of new GOL programs, (3) To develop partnerships with other non-governmental organizations (NGO's) in order to reach as many children in need as possible, and (4) To tell the collective story of GOL programs worldwide.
Over the past 34 years, GOL programs around the world have saved the lives of over 11,500 children. While this is a significant accomplishment, our family of Rotarians, volunteers and healthcare professionals know that there is a need to help many more children. 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
- Create reliable funding sources
- Increase the global awareness of GOL
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.
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.
