No One Has Ever Become Poor by Giving
Every good act is charity. A man's true wealth hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows.
Every good act is charity. A man's true wealth hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows.
Charplast was founded by Dr. Donald R. Laub in 1980. The purpose was to put together a nonprofit organization for family members to use as a vehicle to help the people of the world. Charaplast is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in the USA. Dr. Laub is also the founder of the organization Interplast. Interplast was found over 30 years ago to bring medical relief to children and young adults with cleft lip and cleft palette deformities. Over the years, Interplast has been to over 30 countries and performed tens of thousands of free surgeries on children of the world.
After completing 159 surgical trips to developing countries, Dr. Laub is now focused on mentoring undergraduate and medical students, and conveying the value of students in the field of international health. He has been involved in teaching several courses at Stanford University, including Principles and Practice of International Humanitarian Medicine.
James Laub started Charaplast’s first mission to Cambodia in the year 2001. It was at that time that Charaplast was successful in bringing the organization Operation Smile into Phnom Penh. They performed cleft lip and cleft palette surgery on 160 children over 10 days. That set into motion a series of other opportunities and similar medical missions to DaNang, Veitnam and Cambodia.
In 2009, a new educational outreach program was started in Siem Reap, Cambodia where Charaplast now sponsors 11 Cambodian students to PUC university. The goal is to support young upward mobile students and give them an opportunity to succeed in their own country while giving back to their own population in the future thus becoming fellow humanitarians.
Board Member - Director Student
Communication and Development
Having grown up in New York City to a privileged family fond of traveling to remote places around the world, Daniel Gratch knew from an early age that the concepts of service and giving back were very important to him. These values were further instilled in him while attending Stanford University, an institution which stresses service as integral part of each student's education. It was there that he studied under Dr. Donald Laub who ultimately inspired him to join the Charaplast team by participating in a service trip to Cambodia in 2010. After graduating in 2011 with a Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy, Daniel is now pursuing a post-baccalaureate certificate in premedical sciences at Columbia University with the hopes of becoming a doctor that specializes in global public health issues. As board member and Director of Student Development for Edulift, Charaplast remains an important part of Daniel's life.
Board Member - Director of Intelemed
Ariana graduated from Stanford University in June 2011 with a degree in Human Biology, concentrating in International Women and Child Health. Her numerous volunteer experiences and coursework have solidified her career aspirations to provide quality health care in vulnerable populations. Underscoring the need for student involvement in global health, she is the founder of InteleMed, the newest subsidiary of Charaplast. Ariana is also the instructor of the "Global Humanitarian Medicine" course at Stanford University. Motivated with a passion for equality in access to health care and the individual connection, she will be applying to medical school next year.
Board Member - Co-Director Edulift
Rod Stoddard co-founded Charaplast’s educational division called Edulift with Jim Laub and James Lingen in 2009 (or was it 2010?). Rod joined Charaplast’s board in 2011. He works with his co-founders and other dedicated volunteers to open up educational opportunities in deserving villages around the world.
Like his co-founders Jim and James, Rod personally sponsors a student overseas and volunteers his time to oversee the program and organize fundraisers to raise money for future scholarships. The co-founders’ vision for the future of Edulift is empowering emigrant communities across America to create and fund scholarships in their home countries. This enables children around the world to achieve the dream their sponsors have been able to realize here in the USA as well as enabling the sponsored student to help lift their villages out of a cycle of poverty.