GOL-Runsched

At five-years of age Grace Agwaru was flown in 1974 from Uganda to our shores on her life-saving voyage. Rushed to St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, NY, she was restored to health through the miracle of open heart surgery unavailable in her homeland. Grace blazed the way for more than 2,000 indigent children that followed. They came from countries without facilities or physicians to perform such delicate cardiac procedures.

Inspired by Grace's recovery from certain death, members of the Manhasset, NY Rotary Club launched a modest crusade of the heart which eventually grew to international proportions.

Its founding Rotarians have since realized a dream today shared by thousands like them in Rotary Clubs and Districts everywhere, and by countless supporters the world over--a dream of bringing hope, love and restitution to children in mortal peril. Because they are children to whom we owe a future. And because we are people with the decency and benevolence to make it so.

55 Nations - Building Bridges of Friendship and Peace

The non-profit, tax-exempt Gift of Life is also about friendships formed with grateful communities which may be continents away. Our service to needful children and families has migrated to lands as remote as Mongolia, as prominent as the Russian Republics and China, as needful as Sri Lanka and as newsworthy as Kosovo, Israel and Egypt. The unfolding, healing hands of the Gift of Life have thus far touched fifty-five nations.

The Gift of Life is itself a Family. A caring constituency of volunteers of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds sharing their welcoming warmth with our young patients. Within it are also doctors and health professionals who freely donate their medical skills.

Forty-eight participating hospitals are performing pediatric cardiovascular open-heart surgery.

Opening Doors to Recovery

Children with life-threatening cardiac disorders brought here for treatment range from infants to eighteen-year olds. All are sponsored by their local Rotary Clubs which join physicians in submitting referrals to the Gift of Life.

In turn, our teams of pediatric cardiologists and surgeons study vital statistics received from all applicants to decide if successful operations are feasible. If so, sponsoring Clubs are notified and helped to schedule each child?s flight for life to our country?s participating medical centers.

In a Shared Respect for Life With Rotary International

The Gift of Life is united with Rotary in the resolve to secure corrective heart surgery for children as a matter of principle and purpose. That purpose is instinctive to our fellowship of business and professional leaders with more than 1.2 million members throughout the world who support humanitarian services where they live and beyond.

Ours are community-oriented people from all walks of life who are enlisted in the worthy causes Rotary champions. In spirit, Rotary is also a service organization that encourages high ethical standards in all vocations and fosters a deep commitment to universal understanding. Rotary Clubs are active in almost every town and city in the U.S. and cross borders into hundreds of other countries.

Walk-Run Organizers:

Chad Everett, Gift of Life National Spokesperson

One of the most likeable and popular TV doctors in the medium?s history starred in Medical Center as well as in other series, and has appeared before the cameras hundreds of times. With lead roles in many motion pictures, Chad has become a universally-admired Hollywood celebrity who stays fit by running. It was during such a workout that an idea dawned: the annual 1000 mile Walk-Run to raise funds and awareness for the Gift of Life program.

Robert Donno, A Founder of Gift of Life

The former partner of Donno Company, Inc., Long Island?s largest hauler of residential solid waste, is considered a national leader in his industry by municipal, state and federal government officials. While remaining a part-time coordinator of special projects for Allied Waste Services in regional New York, Robbie has dedicated his future to our mission.

Robbie had since assumed the presidency of his club and went on to formalize the Gift of Life, Inc. which also elected him as its first president. Presently in the role of chairman of the board, he and his associates have overseen the rescue of more than 2,000 children in partnership with Gift of Life programs adopted by forty-plus RotaryDistricts around the world.

Captain James Braddock, Chief Organizer of the Walk-Run

The first two milestone events, which ?sprinted? through twenty cities in twenty days, was in large part the preplanned handiwork of Captain James Braddock working in alliance with Chad Everett. The senior officer of his police organization single-handedly enlisted colleagues from other law enforcement agencies to safely escort participants across eight states on the Walk-Run route.

Again coordinated by Jim Braddock, the same kind of guardians will secure the Gift of Life?s third 1000 mile annual sequel scheduled for September 2001. As before, full complements of law enforcement, state highway patrol and military personnel will escort joggers and walkers every foot of the way.

Who were they, and who will follow them in the upcoming super fund-raising marathon for life? Genuinely concerned members of the South and North Carolina Highway Patrol, Green Berets and the U.S. Marines--to be represented this year by police authorities from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York State and New York City, and Nassau County. Each will be in step to help assure the unqualified success of the most dramatic such event ever staged.

All three are forerunners to annual reruns that will cross every state in the nation through this decade--all for the sake of children with the divine right to live out their lives in confidence and joy.

50-Mile Day of the 2001 Gift of Life Walk-Run

Get Up and Go!

Every moment of the hour, day or week during the course of our Walk-Run is filled with meaning for those who step out for life. The futures of children hang in the balance. Twenty exhilarating days add up to saving perhaps hundreds of boys and girls whose days are otherwise numbered.

Each morning's wake-up call dawns with high hopes. And with high promise as the community and local media gather to launch the day's adventure--the mayor and town officials, TV, radio and news journalists, throngs of Rotarians with their families, friends and business associates.

Sponsors will also be amply and gratefully acknowledged through exposure and give-aways to all wellwishers and bystanders as we mobilize for the day and at rest stops. Sample products and literature will be there for the taking, bolstered by placards and posters also crediting our sponsors while we?re on the move. Local participants need only share the line of march for three to five miles; our sturdy regulars will complete the daily route.