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VOL. 87 NO. 42
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A focus on abandoned animals at Lifeline By MOHAMED FARGHALY mfarghaly@liherald.com
Courtesy Dolores Hofman
DOLORES HOFMAN, FAR left, with Phyllis Bogart, Betty Tucker, Marleen Schuss and Pat Tropea, helped raise awareness of abandoned animals that need to be rescued and sheltered at the 2016 Ms. New York Senior America event. That was one of a number of ways in which Animal Lifeline, which Hofman runs, has publicized its efforts to rescue and foster strays.
For nearly half a century, they have worked to remove stray and abandoned animals from the streets of Freeport, Merrick and beyond. Based in Bellmore, Animal Lifeline is a nonprofit founded with the goal of saving and rehoming as many cats and dogs as possible. It raises funds through a number of means, including a comedy dinner show and auction it hosted last week. The group focuses not only on rescuing and fostering, but also on CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Rotarians offer the ‘Gift of Life’ to the underserved By MOHAMED FARGHALY mfarghaly@liherald.com
The Freeport-Merrick Rotary Club has lived by one slogan for more than 75 years: service above self. And this still resonates as the group continues to save lives of those from underprivileged communities. In fact, Rotary members had a chance to see that firsthand when two people who directly benefited from the group’s Gift of Life program met at a meeting last month. And they’re not just any Gift of Life beneficiaries — they’re the first and the most recent. Grace Agwaru of Uganda,
was the Gift of Life’s first patient back in 1975. Thalissa Raymond, 9, of Haiti, was No, 40,000. “It was a pretty poignant event, because we not only had Thalissa — who’s the most recent recipient of the Gift of Life, we also had the very first girl who was the first recipient of Gift of Life back in the ‘70s,” said local Rotarian Mathew Kryder. She flew over here to join us and just be with us. And now she’s a grown woman,” Not only is Agwaru grown, but she’s also a Rotarian herself, who now advocates for the Gift of Life program around the world. Over the past 46 years, Gift of
Life has helped children from 80 countries and five continents get much-needed treatment for heart disease and other ailments affecting that most vital organ. It provides cardiac and heart transplant operations for children in less-developed countries. More than 80 Gift of Life affiliated programs exist in different parts of the world, making up a worldwide network of care. Most of these initiatives have their roots in Rotary clubs, like the Freeport-Merrick one. Initially, sick children were flown to the United States for life-saving surgery, where they were welcomed by local Rotarians. But today, facilities are
available in different parts of the world. So children like Thalissa can simply travel to the neighboring Dominican Republic for intensive care rather than make the long journey into the United States. “There’s a certain percentage of kids that are born with congenital heart issues, and whether there’s a hole in the heart or
whatever else, a lot of them don’t have access to surgeons or treatment,” Kryder said, “So, you know, a certain percentage of them die every year.” Funds raised are then used to either fly young patients in to receive necessary care, or to build facilities in other countries so they can get that treatment CONTINUED ON PAGE 10