Freeport-Merrick Rotary Club’s Gift of Life program

The Freeport-Merrick Rotary Club is active in supporting their Long Island communities, but they also have an international reach.

The Gift of Life program, which began in 1975, provides funds for life saving medical procedures. The Rotary Club identifies children in other countries who are in need of heart surgery, brings them to the United States, and helps them get their surgeries.

The Ronald McDonald House provides lodging for families while they’re here for the procedure, and the club makes sure they’re receiving the best care.

“While the family is here, we make sure that the family is okay, and we make sure that the child is okay during recovery” Barry McDaniel, the president of the Rotary Club, said.

Eddy Marc-Charles, a Rotary Club member, sponsors families along with his wife. He has been doing so for the past three years.

“They would be in charge of making sure that the family isn’t detained while they’re here in America and making sure that the hospitality is taken care of, even if it means taking them out to different activities throughout the city, whether it’s the aquarium or anything like that, just to give them a sense of home while they’re here,” McDaniel said.

Families come from countries all over the world to receive lifesaving treatment. The Rotary Club’s most recent family for the Gift of Life program was a grandmother and granddaughter from Haiti. Marc-Charles provided transportation for them and showed them around the area to help make them more comfortable.

“There is an adjustment when they come over,” Marc-Charles explained. “I have to show them how to use the elevator. They’re not used to the type of food that they serve at the Ronald McDonald House, so I took them out to a Haitian restaurant.”

Families can be here for around a month or less, depending on how the surgery and recovery process go. Once they return to their countries, the club follows up with them to ensure everything went well.

“One of the things that we make sure of is that while they’re here, they enjoy the moment and their visit,” Marc-Charles said. “We take them to the library, we take them to the zoo, and also to the botanical garden so they have an experience. So, when they go back, they’re very happy.”

In addition to bringing families here, the Rotary Club also trains doctors in other countries to do heart surgeries, including doctors in El Salvador, Uganda, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and more.

“We train the physicians in the country. A group of physicians will go there and show them how to do the surgery, and back and forth. And after that, we don’t have to bring them from their original country to have the surgery,” Marc-Charles said.

The Freeport-Merrick Rotary Club also focuses heavily on the domestic side, running dozens of programs a year, including a Rotary Day of Service in May and the ringing of the bell for the Salvation Army every holiday season. The club is preparing to celebrate their 80 year anniversary.

The club was founded “To give back to the community at that time and it just sustained all the way through for the 80 years,” Jordan Pecora, the vice president of the Rotary Club, said. “You’re always able to find members and clubs and people.”

To learn more about the Freeport-Merrick Rotary Club and the work they do, visit freeportmerrickrotary.org.