WCTFLos Angeles, CA (April 16, 2012) – The 2nd annual Global Partners Awards
Dinner to benefit the World Children’s Transplant Fund (WCTF) was held at the Sheraton Universal Hotel – Starview Room on May 9, 2012.Right now, children all over the globe are desperately waiting for life-savings surgeries; you too can help save the life of a child. Proceeds from this event went directly to funding the efforts of WCTF. The mission of the WCTF is to provide lifesaving pediatric transplant surgeries to children of the world. This amazing organization focuses on establishing WCTF in regional site locations of key population centers around the world attached to preexisting medical facilities. The goal of WCTF is to assist nations in developing and then sustaining independent pediatric organ transplant programs using our 3 T’s – training, technology and teaching.
This year’s Global Partners Awards Dinner, hosted by Mr. Lorenzo Lamas, honored Dr. Yuri Genyk, Surgical Director, Liver/Intestinal Transplant Program at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles; Mr. Onnik Mehrabian, President/Founder, Glendale KIA; Dr. Roger Ohanesian, President/Founder, Armenian EyeCare Project & Harvard Eye Associates, and Operation USA; Mr. Roger Rodas, CFO of Cielo; Coach Tom Walter, Wake Forest University; and a special guest appearance by Coach Tommy Lasorda of the Los Angeles Dodgers. All proceeds from the Global Partners Awards Dinner went directly to facilitate life-saving pediatric organ transplants for children around the world through the WCTF.
The gala is the primary fundraiser for the WCTF which was established in 1988, but truly began long before when Mr. Kroeker worked tirelessly to raise funds and bring a little girl from Argentina to the United States for life-saving liver transplant surgeries. Thus began his life-long endeavor to provide as many opportunities as possible for lifesaving pediatric transplant surgery to children of the world through the WCTF.
When the children of our world die needlessly and without hope, a piece of us dies with them whether we know it or not. And when we help just one to live, we find a small piece of immeasurable, indescribable joy.
–Mark A. Kroeker, WCTF Founder
Dinner Chair Ara Oghoorian chaired the WCTF Global Partners Awards Dinner for the second year in a row. “The Global Partners Awards Dinner is a great opportunity to bring awareness to the need for pediatric surgeries for children who don’t have access to life-saving medical care. We’re looking forward to a great event again this year.” – Ara Oghoorian of ACap Asset Management.
Contacts:
Iris Caplan, Event Coordinator
(323) 653-9448
icaprd@ca.rr.com
Ara Oghoorian, Dinner Chair
(818) 358-3823
aoghoorian@acapam.com
About the World Children’s Transplant Fund (WCTF)
The WCTF is a non-governmental, non-profit organization which focuses on establishing World Children’s Transplant Centers in regional site locations of key population centers around the world attached to preexisting medical facilities. The goal is to assist nations in developing and then sustaining independent pediatric organ transplant programs using our 3 T’s – training, technology and teaching. WCTF is currently in Armenia, Argentina, Costa Rica, and Mexico with plans to expand to many more countries with the help of donations.