William Pickens
Bill Pickens gives a simple reason for his passion for the Gift of Life program, which provides life-saving surgery to children from developing countries.
"This could be my child," he said. "I saw my 18-month-old granddaughter successfully treated for a brain tumor. We're so fortunate in this country to have these (advanced medical) facilities."
The Gift of Life program focuses on helping children with congenital heart defects. "One of out 10 children is born with some kind of heart defect. Ninety-four percent of those are born in countries without any facilities to treat them," said Mr. Pickens, who is a senior vice president of investments for Wells Fargo Advisors LLC.
He is also the chairman and chief fundraiser for Gift of Life Mid-South, a project of the greater Memphis, Tenn., Rotary district, which comprises of 40 Rotary clubs.
Since the program began in 2007, it has brought 10 children from Uganda, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica, to a Memphis hospital for specialized operations.
"Our longer term goal is to bring 10 to 12 children per year to our local hospital, and to send doctors to the (developing) countries to do heart surgeries over there," said Mr. Pickens. Why help kids from other countries?
"We're already helping our own kids," he said. "American citizens are not turned away from this kind of care due to lack of money."
"You don't ever know—one of the kids we save could grow up to be the president of their country."
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