Hanger Ivan R. Sabel Foundation to Receive $75,000 Donation Towards Charitable Prosthetic Efforts in Haiti from Grapes for Humanity/US

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Jul 12, 2010, 02:23 ET

BETHESDA, Md., July 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hanger Ivan R. Sabel Foundation today announced it will receive a generous donation of $75,000 from Grapes for Humanity/US, an internationally recognized charitable foundation that has raised millions of dollars in support of landmine survivors and innocent victims of conflict and disease around the world. The monies will be used by the Hanger Ivan R. Sabel Foundation to continue its charitable efforts at its prosthetic clinic in Haiti.

"Today, on the six-month anniversary of the devastating January 12^th earthquake in Haiti, we remember those whose lives were lost as well as those whose lives were forever changed by severe injury and amputation," Ivan R. Sabel, Chairman of the Hanger Ivan R. Sabel Foundation said. "While we have restored mobility to hundreds since the earthquake, there is still much work to be done. This generous donation by Grapes for Humanity/US will provide vital prosthetic care and rehabilitation services to those in need in Haiti."

The concept for Grapes for Humanity/US (GFH/US) was conceived by Arlene Willis, whose brother, Louis Cofrancesco, was killed in the Vietnam War in 1968 when he picked up a landmine. In conjunction with world-renowned wine producers, sponsors, and supporters, GFH/US raises funds through international wine events and donates the proceeds to carefully selected organizations that work with people with disabilities. Most recently, GFH/US established a Music/Arts program in Cambodia for children with disabilities and GFH/US is in the process of expanding the Music/Arts program to Haiti.

Soon after the January 12th earthquake, the Hanger Ivan R. Sabel Foundation, in conjunction with its partners in the Haitian Amputee Coalition -- Physicians for Peace, Hanger Orthopedic Group, the Harold & Kayrita Anderson Family Foundation, the Catholic Medical Mission Board, and Donald Peck Leslie, M.D., of the Shepherd Center -- founded a long-term prosthetic and rehabilitation center on-site at the Hopital Albert Schweitzer (HAS), an undamaged local hospital with a high clinical reputation located 60 miles from Port-au-Prince in Deschapelles, Haiti. Since its founding on February 22, 2010, the practitioners of the Hanger Ivan R. Sabel Foundation Clinic have provided customized prosthetic solutions to more than 400 Haitian amputees. A training program to educate local Haitians to become prosthetic practitioners and technicians has also been established.

For more information, visit www.grapesforhumanityus.com and www.hanger-sabelfoundation.org.

SOURCE Hanger Ivan R. Sabel Foundation