See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Shavana Abruzzo
Brooklyn Daily
Five-year-old Kevens Loctomar’s eyes twinkled like stars as he blew out candles on an iced cake and shyly opened gifts during his birthday party at the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island, the loot including a toy car, coloring books and crayons, and an electronic keyboard — but the happy milestone may not have happened if big-hearted members of the Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club hadn’t stepped up.
A week earlier the adorable little boy from a rural village in Haiti lay on an operating table at Montefiore Medical Center while his mother Marilia anxiously paced the waiting room, his father Kesner waited for word back home, and doctors labored for more than four hours to repair a hole in his heart.
“Now he gets to live, hopefully, a long and full life!” said Rotarian Celia Weintrob, who picked up Kevens and his mom from the airport, communicating with the Creole-speaking pair through interpreters.
The boy’s successful surgery, performed gratis by Dr. Samuel Weinstein, was due to Gift of Life’s heartening crusade to help children with cardiac problems access free medical care in the U.S. or through the medical training teams it dispatches to undeveloped nations, with more than 16,000 success stories to its name, claimed Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club member Mark Dana, who took the family out to dinner.
“We don’t care where you come from, or what race, religion or color you are,” he said. “All that matters is there’s a child in need, and they need help, and we’re going to help them.”
Kevens, who visited Coney Island, the zoo, and other Big Apple attractions during his six-week trip, wasn’t the only one returning home with gifts. Rotary club members bought Marilia, a seamstress by trade, a new sewing machine to help her carpenter husband boost the struggling family’s income.
Contact Brooklyn Bridge Rotary Club president Angelicque Moreno at AMoreno@jkavanzino.com or (718) 802–1616 for information about group meetings. Visit www.giftoflifeinc.com for information about Gift of Life.