It has been a busy and exciting year for Pathways to Children
January 2015
To start the year Pathways and 18 illustrious alumni from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health (“UMPH”) traveled to Kolkata, India where they volunteered at the Pathways Jan Seva school and clinics and connected with Dr. Devi Shetty’s hospital and rural clinics.
ReSound hearing aid company donated much needed “state of the art” hearing aids to the Pathways UNDAAN “special need” children’s program and ReSound Kolkata employees donated their time to insert the hearing aids and do follow up seminars with the children and their mothers.
May 2015
Pathways had a very successful fund raiser. The event centered around not only raising funds 
for our programs in India and Colombia but also to build a school in Ethiopia. We have partnered with Dr. Rick Hodes, who is the director of the American Jewish Distribution Committee (JDC) in Ethiopia. Dr. Rick Hodes is the Mother Teresa of Ethiopia. We showed the movie “Zemene” which centered around a young girl with a severe life threatening spine disease.
Everyone else had given up on her and had told her to go home and die. Dr. Hodes found her and made it a challenge to save her. She is now a precocious teenager with a passion for life and the desire to give back to her community through her dream of a “real school”. Pathways has provided funding. Construction has started and we are hoping for a grand opening in the fall of 2016.
Also in May 2015
The De La Salle students who volunteered at the Pathways school and clinics in April,
2014 were awarded the prestigious Jefferson Award. Jefferson Awards for Public Service is a national organization that was founded by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Sen. Robert Taft Jr. and Sam Beard in 1972. The mission is to recognize individuals and organizations thoughout the country that have a strong commitment to public service.
October 2015
Speaking of awards, on behalf of Pathways, I accepted the UMPH Community Partner “Star” Award. This Star Award is given to a local non-profit that partners with the University of Minnesota School of Public Health to further the academic experience of its students.
November 2015
Pathways is ending 2015 with an extraordinary volunteer experience by
16 students from
Cristo Rey High School to Bogota, Colombia. Pathways partnered with the Rochester Sisters of St Francis who founded and run a school for poverty stricken children from the barrio. Please read the written by Shelly Murray, a mother who accompanied the students on this trip OR read the travel blog today!
December 2015
As a result of our volunteer program with the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, we are funding two graduate students to spend 3 weeks doing program evaluation, data gathering and developing recommendations for our Jan Seva School and Clinics. In December, we selected the two students from a group of highly qualified applicants. One is in the Master’s program and the other a PHD candidate. Both have Peace Corps experience. In early January, I will join them with another of the alumni volunteers to establish the program guidelines.
Thank You
Once again, I want to thank my Board, our contributors, sponsors and our in-country partners (in India, SICW; in Ethiopia, Dr. Hodes; and in Colombia, the Sisters of St. Francis). What Pathways accomplishes is the collaborative effort of all of these participants. I also want to acknowledge those who venture forth with us as volunteers (the alumni from UMPH and students from DeLaSalle and Christo Rey High Schools). They fully engaged in their service projects and provided much to those we serve while gaining experience in the value of helping others.
We devote substantially all of our resources to direct program aid and support with very limited administrative expenses principally for program development and implementation. Please consider making a donation today!