My Nonprofit Reviews
Carisa Steinberg
Review for Gift of Life Los Angeles, Agoura Hills, CA, USA
Last year, my high school students held numerous fundraisers from car washes to lollipop sales to raise $42,000 to support the tremendous efforts of Gift of Life Los Angeles in El Salvador. I, personally, had the opportunity to go to San Salvador to meet with the pediatric cardiac surgeons, the families and the children who would die without the extraordinary work of Brenda Small and Gift of Life. In total, we sponsored several children to receive open heart surgery in various hospitals within the Unites States as well as helped support a medical mission at Bloom Hospital in San Salvador.
This is why the Gift of Life's approach is so SINGULAR. It is not simply about providing these children with life-saving heart surgery and walking away. The organization identifies the individual needs of the family and helps to meet them in order to ensure the long-term health of the child. These programs include free dental care, a nutritional network and, in some cases utilizing the extensive power of Rotary, the rebuilding of destroyed homes. It is this holistic approach to each individual child and family that makes the Gift of Life incredibly successful.
In addition, and perhaps most importantly, the goal of Gift of Life is to create and foster a long-term sustainable pediatric cardiac surgery program obviating the need for outside help in just five years from the Our Hearts Are in program's onset. They do this by sponsoring numerous medical missions per year that specifically serve to train the nurses and doctors in the pre- and post-surgical care of these special patients. In this way, Gift of Life lifts a nation to ensure the survival of all of their children in need. It is this macroscopic perspective that makes me the most proud to be affiliated with and work for the Gift of Life Los Angeles.
More Feedback
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
I have worked with various Gift of Life organizations and never have I encountered one, like Gift of Life Los Angeles, that gets the job done immediately. I know that in just weeks ALL of the donated funds are going right where they need to go. I completely trust that the spirit in which my teenagers gave has been realized in another country.
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
I would get more people to donate!!
Was your donation impactful?
Definitely
How likely is it that you would recommend that a friend donate to this group?
Definitely
How likely are you to donate to this group again?
Definitely
What specific problem, purpose, priority, or project prompted your gift?
The widespread need of so many susceptible children, who, with the surgery, could live, long healthy productive lives. It is my hope that each one of these children, their families and their villages walk through life knowing that, regardless of nationality, religion or political views, there are people throughout the world who believe that all children deserve the right to a healthy future.
Why did you make your donation at this time?
There are always children in need and therefore, every time is the right time to give.
What would you tell others about this organization?
I want others to know that Gift of Life the most impressive and successful organization that I have ever had the pleasure to work with. From the details of the child's overall health to the security of the family to the sustainability and future autonomy of the country's cardiac program, Gift of Life's goal is to put itself out of business, one country at a time.
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2011
