‘Heart to Heart’ Benefit Dinner to Raise Money for Medical Missions

—CardioStart International Founder Will Attend as Special Guest—

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (July 8, 2013) — On Saturday, July 20, Dr. Aubyn Marath, president and founder of CardioStart International, will be the guest of honor at the Heart to Heart fundraiser, benefitting CardioStart. The event will be held at 6 p.m. at the Double Tree Hotel, 1111 Jefferson Road. It is open to the public and tickets can be purchased by contacting Holly Sackett at 585-770-3119.

The event is underwritten by The DiMarco Group, allowing 100 percent of ticket proceeds to go to CardioStart International.

CardioStart International is a nonprofit organization that hosts humanitarian missions to provide free heart surgery and medical services to children and adults in developing countries. Medical personnel who volunteer with CardioStart travel to the countries to teach native doctors and nurses advanced cardiac care, improving outcomes and saving lives.

In the past 25 years, Dr. Marath and CardioStart International have visited 25 countries and conducted 57 missions performing cardiac surgery and intervention. Penfield resident and BayTowne Plaza business owner, Holly Sacket, will participate as a volunteer on a mission to Vietnam this November.

“I am honored to join all of the other medical and nonmedical volunteers on this mission,” explains Sackett. “We all will pay for our own travel, use our own vacation time, and leave our families behind to go on this two-week mission trip in an effort to make a difference in the lives of the people who will benefit from CardioStart’s efforts.”

Money raised from the Heart to Heart fundraiser will support missions for patients in Ghana, Peru, Uganda and Vietnam.

“As a company we like to support the tenants of our plazas,” said John DiMarco II, owner of BayTowne Plaza.  “I especially applaud Holly in her role volunteering with CardioStart.  Holly and the surgeons are kind hearted donating their time to give much needed medical attention to people in less fortunate countries that expect nothing but gain so much.  This is a great cause that gives a human return –not just donating money but the gift of life through the heart surgeries that will be performed as a result and I felt that this is a great grass roots cause to support.”

For more information about CardioStart or to donate your money or time, please visit cardiostartinternational.org.

CardioStart International

Since 1987, with its league of dedicated volunteers, CardioStart International has strived to play a role in the ever-advancing need to fight the world’s No. 1 killer — cardiovascular disease (CVD). CardioStart teams include medical and non-medical volunteers striving for the same goal. The mission is to educate and assist local medical teams in providing heart surgery and cardiac services to adults and children in underserved regions of the world.

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