(Rapaport…July 23, 2001) Former President Clinton and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York) were both in Staten Island on July 22 for a fundraiser festival held to raise money for amputee victims from Sierra Leone. The event benefited the Rotary Club’s Gift of Limbs program by raising between $30,000 and $50,000, according to early estimates.
The Gift of Limbs, formed in the spring of 2000, has provided orthopedic surgery and prosthetic limbs for nine victims of the civil war in Sierra Leone, seven of whom are children aged four to 16. The money raised at the festival will help pay for their continued care while they wait for asylum in the U.S.
The event featured donated food and entertainment as well as an auction of celebrity donations such as autographed pictures of President Clinton and actress Angelina Jolie.
The festival was organized by the Detectives’ Endowment Association, the Rotary Clubs of Staten Island and Brooklyn, Staten Island University Hospital and various religious groups.