NEW YORK (TIP): A big idea was born in 1974 and every big idea has a small beginning. In 1974, Rotary District 7250 brought a 5-year old named Grace Agwaru on an intercontinental voyage from Uganda to New York. Grace suffered from a hole between the two lower chambers of her small but strong heart. On November 15, 1974 surgeons at Saint Francis Hospital in Roslyn, New York successfully operated on little Grace. That is how the Gift of Life was born and today it is a worldwide Rotary International Service Program responsible for approximately 10,000 heart surgeries for children over 30 countries. The Gift of Life includes Rotarians from all over the world, with independent chapters in countries as far away as Korea and India.

 The sole purpose of the Gift of Life, India is to secure lifesaving heart surgery for children in desperate need regardless of race, religion, or country of origin. The Gift of Life, India is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt corporation with no administrative costs. All our team members work voluntarily; all the monies are generously donated by caring donors and through the numerous matching grants disbursed by the Rotary Foundation.

Like every good idea, it has grown exponentially. In 2001, Rotary Past District Governor of District 7250 Eileen Gentlecore had a simple conversation with a friend of hers and relayed the altruistic vision of Gift of Life. Her friend, Past District Governor Ravishankar Bhooplapur, with the assistance of Past RI Director Sushil Gupta – Trustee of Rotary Foundation, along with Dr. Rajan Deshpande and many other devoted Rotarians AC Peter, PDG Rajendra Rai, Rtn OP Khanna, DGE Kamlesh Raheja, PDG Sam Movva took up the challenge to provide invasive heart surgeries for the children of India. Dr. Rajan Deshpande & Mr Ashok Bolar took initial efforts in the region similarly Mr. Srinivasan, Mr. OP Khanna, PDG. Rai at Bangalore and Coimbatore.  AC Peter and Trustee Sushil Gupta in Delhi made significant contributions. Today, PDG Ravishankar Bhooplapur still serves as an Honorary Chairman of Gift of Life, India. The power of a simple conversation has led to a great achievement.

In 2002, Ravishankar Bhooplapur expressed this idea to Dr. Prabhakar Kore and wished to conduct the heart surgeries in KLE Hospital, Belgaum. Since then KLE Hospital has completed over 750 surgeries funded by Gift of Life program. Mr. Bhooplapur also went on to Coimbatore, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, New Delhi and established this program. Children were brought from Africa, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh & many other countries. Along with contributing his own generous funds he also manages to collect over $100,000 US dollars in donations ever year as well as matching grants from Rotary Foundation.

On 18th November we are celebrating 15 years of launching the Gift of Life initiative for saving over 6,000 children since then. As founder and chairman of this program Mr. Ravishankar Bhooplapur has taken time to come back to his roots to honor those people who have helped to set up and strived to make this program a success over the years. The event took place at Dharwad India on 18th November followed by Sri Praveen Ghodkhindi Flute concert.

The Angel Award is presented to Dr. Prabhakar Kore for his outstanding commitment to this program. And to Dr Rajan Deshpande, Ashok Bolar, Rajendra Rai, Sameer Hirani, Rtn Durgesh Haritay, Dr Vijay Sadasivam, Mr J. Wilson, and many more for their selfless dedication to the Gift of Life. The Gift of Life continues to grow and there is no limit to this idea if we remain committed to saving children’s lives.

Rotary Club or Jericho Sunrise, Rotary Club of Hicksville South & Rotary Club of Lake Success are involved past 10 years and every year over $250000 dollar is provided by way of matching grants to this project. Rotary Foundation matches equally for this grant.  The event received commitment of $150000 dollars from various rotary clubs and districts in India.