“Thanks For the Thirty” Highlights from the New York Gala 30th Anniversary
Kenro Izu, our Founder and Honorary President, receives a commemorative book from FWAB Executive Director Nicole Pagourgis, celebrating the organization’s milestones, achievements, and lasting impact since its founding.
Thirty years. Millions of children. One extraordinary evening. On May 12, 2026, our 30th Anniversary Gala brought 200 of our closest friends and supporters to New York City. It was a celebration of three decades of free pediatric care in Southeast Asia, and of every person who has made it possible.
Here is a message from our Executive Director, Nicole Pagourgis.
Dear Friends,
The 2026 Friends Without A Border’s NY gala was very special for several reasons. We celebrated our 30th anniversary, an impressive milestone in the world of small NGO’s. Founder Kenro Izu received a book dedicated to him commemorating the past 30 years of voting for the millions of children served by FWAB, as well as the thousands of staff trained by us.
Our theme was “Thanks for the Thirty” and we changed our format of honoring one deserving individual who made a difference in our ability to operate and instead honored all of our stakeholders throughout the thirty years. In doing so, we invited former and current hospital staff and volunteers to join us in our celebration.
Three doctors not only joined but gave personal and impassioned talks.
Dr. Tim Weiner, a former board member and volunteer, shared a hospital experience. He was visiting the hospital as a board member when he learned that his father, also a doctor, had passed away. That same evening, he receives the call that a child was born with his intestines outside of his body( gastrochesis) and the hospital needed him.
He taught the staff how to treat this condition with the assistance of then medical director Dr. Greg Thompson. The boy ended up surviving, and the team learned the surgical procedure, which has enabled them to save 26 additional children born with this condition. Volunteers have made a huge impact on these hospitals.
Dr. Thompson, in turn, reflected on the incredible progress that the Lao medical staff has made in the past 10 years and no longer requires the expatriate doctors to perform these types of procedures. Our hospital is 90% Lao run. We are very proud of this.
Lastly, Dr. Indi Trehan, former executive director, detailed how our top- notch nutrition unit was started (with much credit to him and his wife, Diana Culbertson), our impressive collaborations with UNICEF and discussed how the closure of USAID has resulted in many additional malnutrition cases. He urged the crowd to be generous and they most certainly were!
With the help of our auctioneer, the incredible Christopher Hanke, we raised over $700,000.
We want to thank everyone who participated, donated, and supported us in any way. We can only do this with all of your help. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Below, you will find our 30th Anniversary Tribute short film, along with a selection of photographs from the evening.
All images were captured by our volunteer photographers, Ellen Wallop and George McClintock.
