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Two hundred impoverished children will undergo reconstructive surgeries next year thanks to a $50,000 grant to Interplast, a Mountain View-based nonprofit whose globe-trotting doctors provide free plastic surgery to needy children worldwide.
The recent grant will cover the medical costs of children with cleft lips and disabling burn injuries in Ecuador, Nicaragua and Peru.
“Our philosophy is this: The patient who is suffering and is waiting for help, they hurt every day whether there is a recession or not,” said Interplast president and CEO Susan Hayes. “And they deserve our hardest work and our greatest attention.”
The grant money, which came from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, will pay for surgeries through December 2010.
In a time when donated funds are hard to come by, Interplast reports that it has managed to increase donations by more than 20 percent from $3.5 million in fiscal year 2008 to $4.4 million in 2009.
“I think it’s having the right development team,” Hayes said. “We have a board that has been just unbelievably supportive.”
Hayes said Interplast threw its first-ever fundraising gala last November, just as the economic recession began to take full effect. She credited the success of the event to board members and their networking with generous donors and foundations.
Interplast will hold its second “Transformations Gala” on Nov. 7.
Congratulations to the staff of Interplast. You are an awesome organization bringing smiles of joy to children all over the world. I am proud that you are located here in Mountain View
Yes, I am delighted to hear this news too. I wrote about this organization and interviewed one of its founders several years ago — and was so impressed then by the dedication of these teams of doctors who give their time and skill to children who desperately need them.
Long may they thrive — and the children, who need no longer feel so severely ostracized or disabled, thank goodness.