GREENFIELD — A local service club is celebrating 20 years of supporting a mission of repairing life-threatening heart defects.
The Greenfield Rotary Club on Feb. 16 plans its 20th annual Gift of Life Auction, which raises some $50,000 yearly to make it possible for teams of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals to travel to developing countries to perform heart surgeries. The program also brings children in need of surgery to Riley Hospital for Children.
The event begins with a cocktail hour and silent auction at 5:30 p.m. and dinner at 6:30 p.m. at Community Life Center, 10612 E. Washington St., Indianapolis.
Each year, Rotary, an international service organization, spearheads Gift of Life, which works to help children all over the world receive treatment for heart disease. This effort includes identifying people, from newborn age to young adults, in need of treatment and bringing them to hospitals for surgery.
The Rotary Club of Greenfield has a special relationship with the Riley Hospital for Children, and the Gift of Life Riley Heart team has performed some 465 heart surgeries since its inception in 1999, said Dr. Stephanie Kinnaman, a Rotarian and a member of the team.
Last year, 51 children were operated on by the team, she said: one at Riley; 40 in Amman, Jordan; and 10 on a mission to Lebanon.
During the celebration, which is themed “A Splash of Gold,” Rotary Gift of Life International founder Robert Donno will speak, said event co-chair Sara Joyner.
The team not only performs surgeries on children with heart defects; it also teaches health-care professionals in developing countries how to treat the same defects themselves.
Tony Campbell was the Rotary district governor when he learned about Gift of Life and brought the idea to the state. Since then, young people needing treatment for heart disease have been identified by the group in Iraq, Jordan, Uganda, and the Ivory Coast. The group has taken more than two dozen trips in 20 years to identify and treat children with heart defects.
Joyner said the event will have its customary live and silent auction events, but added that support from local businesses in the community has been higher this year because people are excited to participate in the 20th annual event.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”If you go” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Rotary Club of Greenfield
20th annual Gift of Life Auction
5:30 p.m. Feb. 16
Dinner at 6:30 p.m.
Community Life Center, 10612 E. Washington St., Indianapolis
Tickets are $60 and can be purchased by visiting one.bidpal.net/rotarygiftoflife or by calling event co-chair Sara Joyner at 317-507-3607.
[sc:pullout-text-end]
