This is a story about how we can do something really important outside our comfort zone.
I went to Haiti, Honduras, Tanzania, Uganda. Every place is so unique, but every place
was also so much the same. The same needs were there.
In Tanzania, dentistry for example- there's one dentist for every 200,000 people.
They do the best they can, but their supplies are just few and far between.
I started Health and Health Foundation in 2015. I had been doing volunteer work since 2007.
I just wanted to take the next phase of my life in that direction. It also coincided
with my 60th birthday. I wanted to focus at least the next 10 to 15 years on my
ideal of a non-profit that blended health care equally with education because without the two
there just is not sustainable change. That's one of the aspects of the Health and Hope organization
that sets it apart from a lot of other things and it's the fact that Loree's focus has always been on
a lasting impact and how can you set the people up for success. This picture is important to me
because this is how I started Tumaini Tutor School I was walking through village and she just caught
me. She is so cute and I mean at the time I thought what if anything was possible for her.
So, that's the day I decided we need to start a school.
The Tutor School now has about 200 orphaned children that are taught full days, six days a week.
She takes the community, figures out their need, and immediately starts working on it.
For instance, teaching them how to test their water to make sure that it's clean, teaching them how to
set up their own business. This is how I met the ladies that were on a women's business program.
They were all rock crashers so, I left that year and got them hammers, and safety glasses, and masks. And
this woman, Mama Regina, is now this woman so she's graduated from rock crashing to having a fruit
and vegetable business. She still is in the rock crashing business, but now she hires guys to crash
rocks for her and it all started because I had these people come into clinic. Whenever I think of
Loree and I think of these trips it's that you know she's the head of the trip and yet you would never
guess it because she's working the hardest. She's pulling the grunt work, she's sleeping in the tent,
and she's constantly just seeking out the next way she can help, the next way she can give back.
Loree is the most energetic person I've ever met. She has endless amounts of focus and determination.
When you're around her, you just want to be the absolute best version of yourself. When someone
comes on a trip with us, they will be involved in healthcare delivery. In our healthcare section we
do do dental care. We also do vision care and we do non-surgical medical care. By the end of a week,
we would have seen about a thousand. I think that people who have been touched by Loree's work are
more likely to go on and attempt to bring those same kind of benefits to others. Loree inspires
in so many ways and it's the fact that when she leaves it's not just a one-stop impact. It's the
fact that she's truly leaving the communities in a position to better themselves.
Thank you for your help. You help me and thank you.
Dentistry opens the doors to be able to do so much good. I mean we start with dentistry, but then we can take it from there as well.
So, if you've got a passion and you love to do something, don't let the what-ifs stop you.
Do what you're afraid of and go forward and
take advantage of any opportunity because it's all good. Anything you do is a help to someone.