Kingstown, St. Vincent – World Pediatric Project (WPP) received a kind donation from SVG Central Florida Organization of US $1000 as part of their support for the “Every Child Counts Campaign”.
The campaign comes as part of the WPPs latest drive to raise funds in order to continue supporting Community -Based Growth in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Eastern Caribbean. The intention is to expand its reach and ability to assist more children not just locally but regionally.WPP officially launched the ECC campaign on Tuesday February 26th in an informative and inspirational cocktail aimed at shedding light on the work of the organization and solidifying the support of friends of WPP, as plans for various funding activities set to unfold over the next two years was launched. These donations will contribute to the success of the current missions and the ability to provide on ground support to the teams, children and families. WPP recognizes that a lot more needs to be done and believes no child should be left without the medical care needed as “every child counts” hence the local initiative.
The Every Child Counts Campaign funding goal is EC$270,000 and will accomplish enabling the current 15 diagnostic and surgery teams scheduled to travel to SVG this year and to continue their work in years to come. It will aid in mobilizing an additional 2-3 surgery teams to heal more children and to provide funding for two additional children each year to travel to the United States for complex surgery which cannot be provided here.
Two WPP patients Shelise Stewart and Bless Arthur spoke of their personal experiences and about the numerous surgeries received. They both thanked WPP for saving their lives and further implored the audience to find it in their hearts to assist WPP to help other children in need like themselves. WPP has been working in SVG since 2002 providing surgical and diagnostic services through visiting pediatric teams and children getting services in the US. WPP continues to expand in the work that they are doing and is extremely grateful for the growing support and assistance from donors and sponsors, since 2002 they have provided services to over 3,000 SVG children valued at US$24million; 700 of these were at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital and 169 travelled to the US for surgery. WPP is set to have its seventh visiting team for the year which is a general orthopedic Mission led by pediatric orthopedic surgeon Dr. Mark Miller from St. Louis Children’s Hospital who will tend to children both locally and regionally. This mission will run from April 6th -12th. WPP is committed to their mission in building a brighter further for our children particularly with the Every Child Counts Campaign. The work of the WPP and its impact can be followed at www.worldpediatricproject.org