MUSIC FOR HEART

Who We Are

Music for Heart was established by The Rotary Club of Agoura Hills/Oak Park and The Delaney Kate Honorary Heart Fund in a combined effort to continue their mission of raising funds which enable them to help less fortunate children who suffer from Congenital Heart Disease regardless of where they live.

Rotary Clubs around the world are known for their commitment to helping those in need. The Rotary Club of Agoura Hills/Oak Park has adopted "Music for Heart" as their international project. www.rotaryahop.org

The Delaney Kate Honorary HEART Fund was established in June 2003 at the Ventura County Community Foundation (VCCF) www.vccf.org. Delaney Kate is The Small’s youngest daughter and she was diagnosed with Congenital Heart Disease at one week of age. Delaney Kate’s successful recovery from corrective open heart surgery at eight months of age was the miracle of a second chance at life. Since then, the Small Family has been committed to raising funds that enable them to help less fortunate children who suffer from Congenital Heart Disease.

Purpose

Being blessed with a child who suffers from Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) has truly has been a life changing experience for our family. Watching her struggle through each day to survive and staying by her side as she underwent corrective Open Heart Surgery truly showed us our purpose in life. Our belief is that we were given this special gift so that we could help other children and their families who suffer from CHD regardless of where they may live. This is our way of giving thanks for saving the life of our precious daughter. There are countless numbers of children all over the world suffering from various forms of CHD who are not as fortunate as we to have excellent medical care. Our hearts are heavy when we think of the numerous families that have no where to turn because the resources are not available to them.

Statistically, 1 out of every 100 children born worldwide (1% of world population) suffers from some form of Congenital Heart Disease. This number is even more heart wrenching when you consider that the majority of countries have neither the resources, nor the medical technology available to treat these precious children.

According to the World Heart Foundation, over 90% of the world's population, or 4.5 billion people, do not have access to cardiac care.

Funds generated through the MUSIC FOR HEART Program are designated to sponsor cardio-thoracic medical missions to third world countries where cardiac care is unavailable. In addition, funds allow cardiac children to be flown to the USA for corrective surgeries.

While we know that we cannot help them all, the goal of Music for Heart is to make a difference and help save the lives of children around the world who suffer from Congenital Heart Disease "one heart at a time".