A great heart stops beating. Thousands of tiny hearts beat on. RIP Lauren Winkler

A great heart stops beating. Thousands of tiny hearts beat on.

Save A child's heart is an organization where everyday miracles transcend borders and politics.

From their mission statement

 Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) is an Israeli-based international humanitarian project, whose mission is to improve the quality of pediatric cardiac care for children from developing countries who suffer from heart disease and to create centers of competence in these countries. SACH is totally dedicated to the idea that every child deserves the best medical treatment available, regardless of the child's nationality, religion, color, gender or financial situation. 

Since 1995, Save a Child's Heart  has treated more than 3,000 children suffering from cardiac disorders. Approximately 50% of the children are from the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Morocco;  30% are from Africa; and the remaining are from Asia, Eastern Europe and the Americas.

This week, one of the young leaders of Save a Child's heart, 28 year old Lauren Winkler, was tragically killed in a small plane crash.

From the Save a Child's heart Young Leadership group

 At Save A Child’s Heart, Lauren oversaw the fundraising, arranged more than 3,000 visits to the Wolfson Medical Center and the SACH House in Holon, and coordinated the volunteers and interns in the program.

 The Syrian children have to fly to Istanbul and then double back to Tel Aviv because Syria does not permit direct flights, even missions of mercy, to Israel.

Palestinian children can make it to the Wolfson hospital in Holon, Israel, where everyone from neonatal heart surgeons to the nursing staff donate their services, in 90 minutes.  Even during the worst of the Katyushka missile campaigns against the Israeli communities abutting Gaza, the ambulances kept bringing the children to Holon.

Currently, 20 Palestinian doctors are receiving free training in heart surgery through the program.  They don’t want their names in the paper because any current or future Palestinian government could view their training as collaboration with the Zionist enterprise, and they and their families would be killed.

Save A Child’s Heart also sends physicians on missions to poor countries, to train local doctors in heart care.

Lauren’s great heart has stopped beating, but thanks to her and people like her, and the surgeons and the nurses and the volunteers and the organizers, all unpaid, thousands of tiny hearts beat on.

You can help support Save A Child's Heart by making a tax-deductible contribution   here