Gift of Life Announces New Chair Bill Currie; Appoints Three New Board Members

Gift of Life, a Rotary Club-sponsored charity, has elected Bill Currie its Chairman of the Board for a two-year term, and has appointed three new members to the Board: Janet DiBenedetto, past governor of the Rotary Club District and a Rotarian for 25 years; John Felicetti of the Rotary Club of Pelham, and Richard Sherman, new president of the Bronx Rotary Club and a Rotarian since 2010. Leon Horwitz, who has held numerous Rotary Board positions, has been promoted to vice chairman of the Board. These Rotarians will help to direct the operations of Gift of Life in its life-saving heart surgery operations for children from several foreign countries.

Currie has served on the Gift of Life Board since 1998. He became involved with the International Gift of Life program shortly after it was founded in 2002, eventually serving as vice chairman from 2007 to 2009 and as chairman/president from 2009 to 2013. He currently serves as secretary and uses his financial background to assist the organization. He has helped raise money and awareness of the Gift of Life by addressing Rotary conferences on four continents and has spoken to groups of medical professionals about the life-saving work of Gift of Life.

DiBenedetto, a veteran Rotarian, has been a winner of the Rotary’s highest honor, the Service Above Self Award, clear evidence that she represents the essence of the worldwide service organization. Only 500 individuals of the approximately two million members in Rotary International have received the award.

DiBenedetto, a member of the Pleasantville Rotary Club, has been a member of the Gift of Life for 20 years. A grant writer and teacher of grant writing, DiBenedetto says that she is serving on the Board to share her grant writing expertise. “You can do more with grants,” she points out.

John Felicetti is a 20-year resident of Pelham, NY, who has spent his professional career in information technology and management consulting. Felicetti has been an active member of the Rotary Club of the Pelham’s annual TASTINGS fundraiser for children with cardiac needs since its inception in 2005. During that time, he and his family have hosted several children from abroad while they received life-saving heart surgery.

The Rotary Gift of Life works to save the lives of children throughout the world who suffer from heart disease. It is sponsored by participating clubs of Rotary District 7230, which includes 45 clubs in Westchester, the Bronx, New York City, Staten Island and Bermuda. Since 2012, children from Kosovo, Nigeria, Belize and Trinidad have been brought to Westchester Medical Center and Montefiore for life-saving heart surgeries.

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