18-year-old Dubai resident to raise $500,000 for charity in US

Dubai - It will support the lives of thousands of premature babies.

An 18-year-old Dubai resident who recently joined the University of California, Los Angeles as a medical student is already making his country proud by initiating an extraordinary philanthropic initiative for a charity hospital in California.
Marwan Masri has recently initiated a Leadership Gift valued at $500,000 to support the lives of thousands of premature babies at the charity hospital.
As a student, Marwan was provided a flexible period of five years to complete the process of making this gift to the organisation. This would automatically enroll him and his family into the Providence Holy Cross' Friends of Foundation Society.
A student of Al Mawakeb school of Dubai, Masri is in Dubai these days (in his summer break) and is raising awareness about the initiative, seeking the support of a number of doctors and hospitals of the UAE.
Marwan's plan is to support a variety of social causes and community outreach programmes rolled out by the Providence Holy Cross, mainly a 6.4 million philanthropic project titled 'Little Miracles Initiative' for saving the lives of thousands of premature babies. Marwan was invited by the organization to make a Leadership Gift of $500,000 to the initiative, which meets the needs of youngest patients. The charity medical centre provides healing and health care to the people of San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Simi Valleys in the Mission Hills district of California."
Talking about the $500,000 target and his ability to achieve it, Marwan said: "It is always good to have a set goal in mind so that you can work towards it and meet it. It keeps us motivated but it does not mean we will necessarily meet it or stop at it. I will do as much as I can."
Elaborating on how it all started, Marwan, who stays with his mother and siblings in LA now, said it all began as he received a mail from the not-for-profit hospital Providence Holy Cross Medical Centre seeking donations for a philanthropic project titled 'Little Miracles Initiative' for saving the lives of thousands of premature babies. " Since that gave me a chance to also volunteer at the hospital, I went and saw for myself the pressing need of the expansion of their Neonatal Intensive Care unit at the hospital that gave specialized care for premature and ill newborns.
Also, what moved Marwan was a meeting with one of the hospital executives who told him 'we should be providing healthcare to every patient as if he or she is our family member and you will make a difference.'
Marwan's goal is to approach doctors with resources provided by the university as well as by the hospital and tell them about how this would help the poor and the vulnerable section of the society. Marwan visits the UAE twice a year and says he will be using his summer and winter break to spread awareness about this fundraising initiative.
Talking about how UAE has shaped his mindset towards philanthropic activities, Marwan said: " I would like to say that I am championing UAE's mentality outside the country and I have been influenced by the leadership of the UAE who have been providing aid and support to so many other countries. When you grow in such an environment, it humbles you and helps you passionately work to make the world a better place, wherever you go or live.
Not forgetting his Syrian community, Marwan said: "And I'd like to say that what I am doing here is in a certain way also defending my Syrian community as being a Syrian national it was quite a task getting admission in the US but then there were two ways I could go about it. Either hold a grudge against the US for making it difficult for me to achieve my dream or I could represent my Syrian community by doing good and by telling the world that they should not treat people on the basis of their race, ethnicity or nationality."
Giving out a message to the youth, Marwan said: " Any act of kindness should ot be limited to a specific race, religion or nationality, we should overlook that because humanity is so much more than this. Treat each other like humans first without caring to focus on their background."
When he was in high school in Al Mawakeb School, Marwan made his parents proud by donating Dh75,000 - his entire savings and pocket money of eight years - to the victims of Typhoon Nona in the Philippines in 2015.
saman@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai