For Immediate Release:                                                                                                        Contact: Collin Nash
June 10, 2008                                                                                                                                (516) 869-7822

Gift of Life Welcomes its First Heart Patient Thirty Three Years Later

Grace Agwaru was five years old in 1975 when, under the auspices of the Gift of Life Foundation, she was sponsored on a trip from her native Uganda to the United States as the charitable organization’s first heart surgery patient.

North Hempstead Town Clerk Leslie Gross attended a recent dinner at George Washington Manor in Roslyn honoring Ms. Agwaru. The Town Clerk welcomed Ms. Agwaru, who brought with her medical files of several children - one of whom may become the 10,000 ^th child to receive surgery since the program that provides free medical services to children of all colors and creeds suffering from congenital heart defects began in 1975.

“Ms. Agwaru embodies the mission of the Gift of Life Foundation,” Ms. Gross said.

Town Clerk Leslie Gross (right) and Grace Agwaru, Gift of Life’s first heart surgery recipient brought to the U.S.