MIT Group Raising Funds for Save A Child's Heart Organization

For children in developing countries in desperate need of life-saving heart surgery, Save A Child's Heart organization is there to take on the financial burden of surgery so that these children can get access to the care they need.

Recently, members of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity chapter at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, have been working tirelessly to raise money for the organization. Here are three things to know about the organization, the historically Jewish fraternity's fundraising efforts and how you can help:

1. The Save A Child's Heart organization is an Israeli-based international humanitarian project, whose mission is to improve the quality of pediatric cardiac care for children from developing countries. The organization identifies children from developing countries in need of treatment for potentially fatal heart conditions and flies them to Israel. Volunteer physicians in Israel perform these surgeries at no cost to the patient.

"All it takes to save a child's life is money," says Jesse Kirkpatrick, chair of the philanthropy committee at the fraternity, "And the brothers decided that if that's all it takes, then helping raise money is something we should be doing. The organization's work really resonated with the brothers."

2. The fraternity brothers have been doing a lot of grassroots fundraising for Save A Child's Heart, and have been asking MIT professors, family members and friends to donate to the cause. They even created a video to promote their fundraising campaign.

They also organized a Pie in the Face event, where student leaders volunteered to get a pie thrown on their face for charity. "31 student leaders signed up to get pied in the face," says Mr. Kirkpatrick. "Their friends made donations for each student leader. And the size of the pie was proportional to the amount of money donated for each person."

3. The total cost of providing life-saving heart surgeries for underserved children amounts to $10,000 per child. The fraternity's chapter alumni have agreed to match the amount that they raise. If the fraternity raises $15,000, the chapter alumni will match it, bringing the total amount to $30,000 — enough for surgeries for three children. The fraternity is currently $1,500 away from their goal of $15,000.

Those interested in donating to their efforts can do so online, or they can make check's out "Alpha Epsilon Pi Foundation, Memo: Save a Child’s Heart – MIT." Checks can be mailed to:
AEPi Foundation
attn: Official Philanthropy
8815 Wesleyan Road
Indianapolis, IN 46268

Copyright © 2024 Becker's Healthcare. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy. Linking and Reprinting Policy.

 

Featured Whitepapers

Featured Webinars