GMRF is with the Haitian people for the long-term. We look to do our part in healing and rehabilitating the children of this unprecedented disaster, to restore lives. Our prayers are with you. Our partners in effort, Shriners Hospital for Children www.shrinershq.org and Long Island Plastic Surgical Group www.lipsg.com are committed to treat the injured. GMRF and our partners/doctors will be traveling to Haiti to do surgery and to identify child candidates who have been burned, needing reconstructive surgery or lost and or will lose limbs, for prosthetics. Please check back for updates.
Impact Your World highlights efforts to help survivors of the tsunami. [View Video]
One Staten Island woman who helps children in need around the world gave two of them a traditional New York holiday experience this past week. [View Video]
We are happy to have our kids, Tara and Hamdani back from Indonesia. They are both victims of the devastating 2004 Tsunami. This is their third visit. Our partener in effort, Shriners Hospital for Children In Philadelphia will refit new prosthetic limbs to replace their outgrown ones. Check back for updates on Tara and Hamandani. As well as new and follow up children coming over the next few months from Bosnia, Nepal and Iraq.
From Indonesia to the North Pole.... Tara and Hamdani, We thank Macys on 34th street for making a magical vist with Santa for Tara, Hamdani and GMRF. Never too big to believe...
An Air Force reservist's chance encounter with an injured Iraqi boy changed both of their lives. Read Article
Watch our soulful mission with some GMRF children, produced by Kenan Malkic. View Video
Global Medical Relief Fund Helps Children Receive Free Prosthetics. Read Article
Gmrf would like to thank Domus New York - www.domusnewyork.com for working so hard in doing a successful Block Sale to Benefit us. They raised near 3000.00 for GMRF children. We appreciate their time and compassion in helping us make a difference, in which they have and do. Bless them and all the volunteers who participated in this humble effort.
GMRF would like to thank the wonderful warm and compassionate student counsel of P.S. 22 in Staten Island, for choosing GMRF and participating in the successful effort in raising $1950.00. They decided through the guidance of Mrs. Rehak, teacher to have a “Snack Sale” that would benefit the GMRF children of war and natural disaster. Special thank you to both Ms. Donath, Principal and, Mrs. Rehak for their support. GMRF has promised to introduce the next child brought here for help to them.
Agency helps pick up pieces of little boy's life. [Read Article]
Three of our seven children, Arzana, Alketa and Sajjad returned home walking and reaching. While Ismetta remains for a series of reconstructive surgery till July, Mohammad and Beasan in Rehabilitation and Dino awaiting his new arm.
Arzana, Alketa from Kosovo and Dino from Montenegro [View Photo],
Mohammad and Sajjad–Iraq standing on their new legs [View Photo],
Ismeta and Elissa Montanti in Boston Shriners Children Hospital [View Photo]
Besan [View Photo]
In these times of economic distress in which we are all affected, GMRF is holding on by a prayer that we can weather the storm. We have dozens of children who have out grown their prosthetics and need to return for replacement limbs. In addition, we have new kids who have been waiting for our assistance (not to mention the children that are still here receiving services). GMRF needs a financial life preserver in order to continue to help wounded and injured children around the world. Please remember us when the clouds pass so we can continue our important work.
Blessings,
Elissa Montanti
Mohammed Rasoul had his leg blown off in an Iraq car bombing. He can walk again, thanks to an American-based charity. He and his mother wish all Iraqis could see the United States in the same light as they do. "When I went to America, I saw such kindness and humanity," his mom says. [Read Article] [View Video]
Sajjad five years old from Iraq, Dino eleven from Montenegro, Mohammad fifteen from Iraq, Ismeta thirteen from Bosnia, Alketa three from Kosovo and Arzana seventeen from Kosovo (who is not in picture) are all of the six children that are here. In spite of The economic crisis, GMRF managed a miracle in bringing and in providing new limbs, new face and a new life…
Happy New Year to all. We are entering 2009 with a sigh and a prayer. The present state of the economy is at an all time low, while the requests to help new children, (let alone those that require follow up care) are at an all time high. Within the next few weeks we hope to bring the six children,
Ismeta-12 from Bosnia [View Photo],
Sajjad-5 from Iraq [View Photo],
Mohammad-15 from Iraq [View Photo],
Dino-14 from Montenegro [View Photo],
Arzana-17 from Kosovo [View Photo] and Alketa-3 from Kosovo [View Photo], of the seventeen that we expect to bring this year. Check back for updates, and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
We wish to thank the Montenegrin community for its outpouring of LOVE and support. A fundraiser to raise money for GMRF was held at Momento’s Restaurant in Astoria Queens. The event was generously sponsored by the owners, the Redzic brothers and was organized by Dr. Mersim Ziljkic and Ago Redzic, who got involved when they learned that GMRF would help one boy from Montenegro and embrace any other child that fits into our program. God bless their kindness.
GMRF’S Bosnian girls, now 19, 21, and 22, who have been part of our healing family since they were nine years old, meet our Iraqi, (new and follow up kids): Ali 18, Dalal, 8 and (another) Ali, six. All are here to get replacement or new prosthetic limbs. They all have shared the cold and darkness of war, but now they shine ever so brightly in the light of a new and empowering day. They are unintentional messengers in many ways. They tell a village of the generous and welcoming society that America is, which then tells a city, and so on and so forth..... This is Global Warming at its best.
The New Emotionally and Spiritually Captivating Documentary Film.... To Walk Without Fear profiles triple amputee Kenan Malkic, who at twelve years old stepped on a landmine and became the most injured civilian to survive the Bosnian war.Now twenty-three, Kenan lives and works with Elissa Montanti, the woman who single-handedly brought him to the United States for prosthetics and rehabilitation, and who founded a global charity in his honor. Together, Kenan and Elissa provide relief, guidance and kinship to children from war-torn countries the world over.Beginning as a personal journey to find the meaning behind his accident, Kenan discovers his own identity and significance as he becomes mentor and role-model to fourteen year old Ali Ameer, an Iraqi amputee with a similar background, and the latest child to be helped by Elissa’s small organization.To Walk Without Fear is an uplifting story about ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. At the heart of this film is the transformation of deep tragedy into an opportunity for love and understanding to flourish between people, and the hope that this love offers a world in the face of mounting crisis. Kenan’s story is ultimately about the discovery of a new global family. [View The Trailer]
Thank you George Stout, manager of the Safari at Six Flags in Jackson New Jersey, for giving GMRF a day of learning playing and simply enjoying. Our Bosnian girls loved the rides and adored the many species of animals.
The GMRF is committed to bring hope and help to children who are missing or have lost use of their limbs, have been severely burned, or are otherwise damaged due to the atrocities of war, naturall disaster or illness.
The GMRF reaches out both locally and worldwide in search of children in desperate need, with little or no resources to better their condition. We prepare necessary travel documents for both child and guardian, and arrange transportation to the United States, where candidates are fitted with prosthetic limbs and receive medical and/or surgical care. We also provide the patient and his or her guardian room and board for the duration of convalescence.
Since 1997, we have endeavored to give back to children what has been so unfairly taken away. It is often impossible to fully restore the child's physical condition, but with our help they can regain self-sufficiency and optimism for the future.
Not only do these children gain immeasurably from our organization, both physically and mentally, but they also stand as ambassadors for the United States, reflecting our nation's generosity, ingenuity, freedom and opportunity.
We at the GMRF feel that it is our obligation as human beings to commit ourselves wholeheartedly to answering those tiny voices around the world whose faint cries call out for our help.
