  
Cooperative Humanitarian Project
Districts 7450 & 7430
Members of District 7430 were contacted in November by Eric Balcavage of the Concordville-Chadds Ford Rotary and his mother Carol at LVHC. Eric’s older brother LTC Mark Balcavage was stationed in Iraq where his troops came across a small four year old boy in need of help. This little boy, Mohammed Kareem, was born with a birth defect that required him to have a colostomy soon after birth.
Further surgery to make life more normal for Mohammed is not possible in Iraq and previous attempts to get the child to the United States were unsuccessful. Our DG sent an appeal to all the clubs to assist in getting Mohammed here this time.
With the promise of assistance by the staff at Lehigh Valley Hospital and cooperation by several local groups, the child arrived in the Valley on Sunday December 16, at JFK. Eric’s parents and the host mother drove there (in all that weather) to meet the child and his escort. Dawn Costello, a long-time friend of the Balcavages, from Allentown-West is coordinating the local Rotary efforts.
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