What Would You Wear?
I stopped by my mom’s house on the way home from work recently, and she ushered me into the living room to show me the design she was working on for the IntSam 5K T-shirt this year. A pretty stoic woman from the Greatest Generation, my mom was perceptibly proud of...
Down But Not Out
Last week, I continued with home visits to the potential scholars to see and experience their life after their daily work at the Dandora dumpsite. Families working in the dumpsite have become my friends, and they all welcomed me warmly. Sarah and her children are...
Confronting a Giant
“Conflict is an inevitable part of life. Our job as leaders is to choose whether we want to resolve it in a healthy or an unhealthy way.” I learned this lesson a long time ago from the late Duane Hurtt, one of my first bosses, and it has helped me immeasurably in...
Losing Our Angel to Cancer
In June we lost one of our scholars, fifteen-year-old Matheo Flores, to cancer. Matheo was a very happy, intelligent, very sociable child who loved to play video games and dreamed of becoming a doctor to help kids just like him. He was the only boy in his family and...
Going Uphill
When we created the IntSam 5K four years ago, I wrote a reflection about the advice Kevin Hofmann, a friend for almost 50 years, gave me when we were at the cross-country state championship together in high school: “Run your race and attack the hills.” I hear his...
Finding Life in Books and in Others
The Weingartz Family Life Center was expertly decorated as if ready to welcome wedding guests. Yellow and black balloons were everywhere, white candles graced the tables, and the chairs were perfectly placed. As I marveled at the room’s beauty, a voice exclaimed,...
A Different Kind of Trip
We did something last month we’ve never done at International Samaritan. We brought a team of students from Detroit’s public high schools on a trip across the Atlantic to build bonds with our scholars in Ethiopia. Our goal was not just to give six Detroit teenagers...
When the Storms Come
I consider it a privilege to work for an organization whose mission is to help change lives. Still, there are days I feel very sad when I see children, young people, and especially older adults working in the garbage dumps in my city of Tegucigalpa. It makes me...
A Good Dad Needs You
I’m feeling pretty nostalgic this Father’s Day weekend. It started last Saturday night, at the wedding of our board chair’s daughter, when Dan Weingartz was explaining to my wife and me how he wept like a baby every time he tried to pick a song for the father’s dance...
One Month In Kiteezi
My work at International Samaritan began just over a month ago. Uganda, one of the poorest countries in the world, presents a challenging backdrop for our mission. The average daily income barely reaches one dollar, and the lack of formal education and employment...
A Garbage Dump in Galilee?
If there were a garbage dump in Galilee 2,000 years ago, I’m confident that Jesus would have gone to it. If you want to know what that would look like in today’s world, please watch the video below. It captures Esther Muhia, the leader of our freshly-established...
Why’d They Do That?
Children growing up in the Riverton area, located near Jamaica’s capital of Kingston, have the double whammy of being poor and the stigma of living and working near a garbage dump. I grew up in Riverton, too. My own dad never had the opportunity to finish primary...
