Best of Friends: there couldn’t be a better way to describe our family of monthly donors. Like best friends in life, these donors are there through thick and thin, providing Mount Sinai with a consistent source of funds that is essential for upgrading equipment, implementing new technology and maintaining a level of excellence that attracts the best medical talent.

One of Mount Sinai’s newest Friends is Mohammed Yousof Rahimi. Mr. Rahimi became a monthly donor in early 2009, after making several donations in 2007 and 2008. His gift expresses appreciation not only for the superb medical care he received, but for the kindness of all the staff and volunteers he encountered at the Hospital. “I met very good people there,” he says. “I thought, ‘I have to help them with this hospital.’ That’s why I decided to make a donation.”

Mr. Rahimi lives in Oakville, Ont.,the latest stop on a journey from his native Afghanistan that saw him, his wife and their six children flee their war-torn homeland to Pakistan, India and, finally, Canada. The family reunited in Montreal more than 25 years ago, but Rahimi remembers like it was yesterday the many acts of kindness on the part of church groups, consular staff and immigration officials that helped the family reach their destination.

Mr. Rahimi has retired from his career as a mechanical engineer with ViaRail. His children are married and live near their parents. “Everybody is working,” he says. “Now, we have a good life.”

Over the years, he has sponsored 15 people to come to Canada from Pakistan and India. Having recently succeeded in taking back ownership of his property in Afghanistan, Mr. Rahimi looks forward to being able to extend yet another act of kindness. “When I sell the house, I’m going to help Mount Sinai,” he says.