Hearts in Motion Alumni Reunion and Virtual Trip to Guatemala

Dear WSU/ Hearts in Motion Medical Missions Teams! 

Can you believe it has been 12 years since WSU sent its first cohort of students to be part of HIM’s medical missions? Since then, almost 400 of you have gone on these trips and had a deep impact in helping an underserved and wonderful population get some of the medical care they need. I am so grateful for every one of you who selflessly put in love, time, effort, and funds to help others. It is my hope that, as you have gone on your life journeys, you have looked back at this experience as an example of what you are able to do as a caring human being, and that you have continued to try to give back to others, in whatever capacity.  

Sadly, we were unable to go on our planned spring break mission in 2020. In fact, it got cancelled the same week we were scheduled to depart and, obviously, our attempts to reschedule for later in 2020 or in 2021 were unsuccessful given the world pandemic situation. The plan is to reactivate the mission for March 2022 and are looking forward to it. However, we felt that this would a good time to pause and look back at all these years by hosting a virtual reunion of WSU/ HIM alumni to go on a “trip to Guatemala” together!  

We envision this as a virtual trip so you can see what has been going on at the HIM various centers during this hiatus. HIM has not been inactive at all! Indeed, this past year has seen a lot of miracles take place as the organization has done an amazing work of continuing to provide services and take care of the people they support, beyond all odds. The HIM team, both in Guatemala and the US, should be justifiably proud of all they have done. So, during this virtual trip, we will hear from Karen, Julie, Bert, and the other HIM staff on site and in the US, and they will share information and videos on all the projects that you saw during your trip, and many that may have started afterwards. We are inviting some of the key mentors (doctors, dentists, volunteers) that made your trip so memorable, so it will be a great opportunity to catch up with this wonderful group.

Most of all, we would like to host a brief memorial to our beloved Mark Paxton who, together with Howard Wright, got WSU involved in these missions and served as an inspiration and aspirational role model to so many.

I hope you will be able to join us! The virtual trip will take place on Sunday, April 25 starting at 4:00 pm PST (5:00 in Guatemala/ mountain; 6:00 central; 7:00 east). The ZOOM link to the event is: 86793358074 and the password is: 575519 

Please, RSVP to amrodriguez@wsu.edu so we can keep track of attendance and plan accordingly!

Even when things go back to normal, it would be wonderful to have an alumni event each year just to catch up with all these good people and friends! So, I hope you will be able to join us and help us start a new tradition!  

Wishing you the best and hoping to see you on 4/25!  

Ana María and Kathy