The Gift of Life Program, which was originally initiated in 1975, is today a worldwide Rotary International Service Program. Its primary purpose is to help needy children receive corrective heart surgery in a Gift of Life Participating Hospital in the USA. The Gift of Life Program has saved the lives of over 8,000 children from more than 60 countries throughout the world.

The Program reaches children throughout the world, including the United States. It is essentially a nonprofit,
tax-exempt corporation whose Board of Directors and members are Rotarians.

The American hospitals and medical profession have graciously and generously given of their time and services to provide these little children with another "Lease on Life" through the miracle of open-heart surgery...thereby, helping these who will be our future leaders become our Ambassadors of Goodwill and Peace!