INSULIN FOR LIFE USA Announces a $120k Award from the Helmsley Charitable Trust and a $20k Matching Challange

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - April 30, 2014 - PRLog -- The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has awarded a $120,000 grant to Insulin for Life USA to enhance its capacity to deliver life-saving insulin to an international audience of persons with diabetes in desperate need of this medication. This grant includes a $20,000 matching challenge to encourage additional Insulin for Life supporters to join the efforts to help fund the organization’s vital work.

Only 20 months old, Insulin for Life USA will utilize this award to respond to the organizational challenges associated with becoming a rapidly growing charitable provider of diabetes supplies to health care professionals in developing nations.  “Our model could be considered both green and life-saving at the same time,” said Dr. Mark Atkinson, President of Insulin for Life USA.  “We collect un-opened, in date, and otherwise unneeded diabetes supplies from individuals throughout the USA that would normally be disposed of.  After careful inspection and handling, we deliver them to international health care professionals for distribution, free of charge, to diabetics both young and old, who have no means to pay for their medications.”

In its first year of operations, donations of insulin were 2,000% higher than initial projections.  Also, with a start-up budget of $110,000, the organization recovered supplies in that first year having a value in excess of $1.3 million.  Supply shipments reached a global audience, including the countries of the Congo Republic, Ghana, Haiti, India, Mauritania, Nigeria, Philippines, Rwanda, and Uganda.

As part of this grant, the Trust will match up to $20,000 in gifts from other donors exceeding $1,500 that are made between March 15, 2014, and January 15, 2015, provided the donor has not made a gift of that amount or larger previously. Insulin for Life USA is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation, making all donations tax deductible. Insulin for Life USA hopes this opportunity will encourage both individuals as well as corporate donors to double the impact of their gift.

Learn more about contributing to the matching challenge or donating much needed diabetes supplies on the Insulin for Life USA website [http://www.ifl-usa.org/].

This grant is the second award from the Helmsley Charitable Trust to Insulin for Life USA, the first one having been utilized to help the organization’s start. “We are incredibly grateful to The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust’s support and look forward to our continued partnership in seeking to save the lives of those with diabetes who, through no fault of their own, face a daily struggle for survival,” said Carol Atkinson, Insulin for Life USA’s Director.

ABOUT THE LEONA M. AND HARRY B. HELMSLEY CHARITABLE TRUST (www.helmsleytrust.org):

The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust aspires to improve lives by supporting effective nonprofits and other mission-aligned organizations in health, place-based initiatives, and education and human services.  Since 2008, when the Trust began its active grantmaking, it has committed more than $1 billion.  The Helmsley Type 1 Diabetes Program is the largest private funder of T1D-related research, treatment and support programs. For more information, please visit www.helmsleytrust.org.

ABOUT INSULIN FOR LIFE USA (www.IFL-USA.org):
Insulin for Life USA is a fully licensed (State of Florida) and insured a 501(c)3 approved not-for-profit whose goal is to improve the lives of those with diabetes, through provision of health care education as well as supplies essential to the management of that disease, who otherwise would suffer due to lack of resources. Insulin for Life USA works closely with a variety of other charitable organizations’ whose operations differ, but are none-the-less dedicated to improving the lives of impoverished persons with diabetes.