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Causes for Change at work in Ecuador
June 26, 2008

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/glencoe/business/1019733,gl-ecuador-062608-s1.article


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By RUTH SOLOMON rsolomon@pioneerlocal.com
Winnetka resident Lynn Sanders runs a multimedia business and is not a dental assistant, but her dentist husband, Joel, said she can still help identify patients for him during an upcoming service trip to Ecuador.
The reason: the patients, many of them children, have such poor dental care that it is obvious when their teeth are decayed.
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Three girls from a remote village in Ecuador happily clutch stuffed animals brought to them on a 2006 trip by Causes for Change International volunteers, including Wilmette photographer George Pfoertner. (George Pfoertner/for Pioneer Press)
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Wilmette residents Nina Schield, 12, and Laura Tatgenhorst, 13, with bags containing 310 stuffed animals that dentist Joel Sanders and his wife, Lynn, of Winnetka will take to children in an impovishered area of Ecuador. (Joel Sanders/for Pioneer Press)
PHOTO GALLERY• Changing Ecuador
RELATED STORIES
• Ecuador trip facts
The Sanders, along with their son, Andrew, 17, and his friend, Winnetka resident Jack Fuller; Tom Bayne, a holistic physician with an office in Glenview; and Highland Park resident Anne Bartels, a premed student at the University of Illinois, are among a group of volunteers who will be heading to the South American country in July.
The program is sponsored by Causes for Change International, a charity run from an apartment in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood by Zully JF Alvarado, who works in her husband's financial services and real estate business. Alvarado, the daughter of a banana plantation worker father and a mother who washed clothes for a living, grew up on the coastal areas of Ecuador. She suffered from untreated polio before finally receiving good medical care after being brought to the U.S. by missionaries in 1965 at age 9.
Alvarado set up the Causes for Change International charity in 1996 and it operates on a shoestring budget. Volunteers who go on the service trips pay their own way. Joel Sanders collected all the dental supplies himself.
Alvarado said she solicits volunteers through word of mouth or from her Web site (causesfor change.org).
Joel Sanders said he heard about Causes for Change International from a patient who runs a Web site that lists all not-for-profits needing volunteers.
"He (Joel's patient) knew I speak Spanish and that I had lived in Argentina for a year-abroad program," said Sanders, who years ago participated as a volunteer in the Amigos de Las Americas program.
Joel said he typically sees two patients an hour at his Highland Park office, but has heard in Ecuador he will be seeing 160 patients a day.
Joel's wife, Lynn, explained why he decided to undertake the grueling dental work free of charge. "My husband has a good heart," said Lynn, a publicist, commercial lyricist and writer with a multimedia company in Winnetka called "Parkside Productions."
For this trip, Lynn has been soliciting stuffed animals and toiletries to donate to the children in the Ecuadoran villages they will visit. After hearing about Lynn's request, two Wilmette girls, Laura Tatgenhorst, 13, and twins Nina and Audrey Schield, 12, donated 310 stuffed animals.
More volunteers
Another Wilmette resident, photographer George Pfoertner, has been to Ecuador as a volunteer on almost a yearly basis since the inception of the Causes for Change charity, including one trip two years ago with his daughter, Eva, now 19 and a New Trier graduate. (A sampling of some of Pfoertner's photos from the 2006 trip can be seen on Pioneerlocal.com.) One photo Pfoertner took shows three Ecuadoran girls with big smiles on their faces, clutching their new stuffed animals.
Alvarado said the children's teeth decay because mothers typically give sugarcane to their children to soothe them. The parents who live in the coastal areas work in the sugarcane, banana and fishing industries, Alvarado said.
Lynn said her son, Andrew, was, like his father, also in the Amigos program, helping build a water tank in Costa Rica. Such trips are good lessons for youths, she said.
"It's very important for them to see how much a difference they can make. And kids are more open to trying new things."
Lynn herself said a recent life-threatening bout with appendicitis and the death of several people close to her gave her the impetus to do more to help others. "It just shakes you up. Life is finite. Do what you need to do while you are on Earth," she said.

We're Up To 950 TOYS!

Hi Everyone,

Can you believe it?

When I first heard that I was supposed to bring about 1000 small stuffed animals and small. toys for the poor kids in Ecuador, I panicked. How was I ever going to do that? It seemed impossible.

Then I thought -- well, I've got to at least TRY. It wouldn't be fair if I didn't even give myself a chance. So I sent out an email blast to a bunch of people... and the word seemed to magically travel out to lots of people. The Pioneer Press wrote a lovely article about us, which I'll attempt to include at the bottom of this note. Soon -- donations started appearing from all over -- people calling (even strangers)... and before we knew it, our garage started filling up with bags and boxes, both small donations and large. Today, I just finished counting 950 TOYS! And I haven't even finished. A man at my hair salon "coincidentally" happened to have a large garbage-sized bag of beanie babies which were supposed to go to another cause, but the cause didn't need any more toys. So -- we'll have even more...

We're supposed to count everything, because 2000 (yes, that's right! TWO THOUSAND) kids will be treated in one week -- with five dentists working full steam ahead, along with two doctors, a nurse and assorted volunteers. I was told that since the kids are really scared -- you can imagine that they've never seen a shot -- and they're about to get teeth pulled out -- the kids do a lot of screaming. Then, those kids waiting in line also start screaming. We "floater" volunteers are also responsible for keeping kids distracted while they wait in line. Some people donated puppets, so I'm going to use those in line with the kids. I also bought two books with suggested activities for elementary kids.

I'm so very grateful for everyone's support and help. I was feeling pretty scared last week, especially in light of the primitive conditions we're going to face. Still, after our meeting last Sunday with Zully Alvaredo, the director of Causes For Change, I felt more reassured. I met about 17 other volunteers and we learned about many things. Besides the village I mentioned earlier, where the Shuar Indian tribe will be waiting, we're also going to another village where many children have birth defects. This village (Taora ?), was sprayed with defoliants for their banana and sugar cane plantations. But the defoliants have lots of toxins. Some of the kids are microcephalic, which means they have little heads. I was told they don't have much of a brain.
I can't even imagine it.

It will feel especially good to be able to bring these many gifts on behalf of the Americans. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I doubt I'll have access to any computer in Ecuador. Our hotel is primitive, and the villages have no electricity. I just bought three flashlights for each of us. Joel will need people to hold flashlights over each child's mouth, so he can see what tooth he is supposed to pull.

I'll write manually in a journal, and will write to share more news.

All the best to you,
Lynn

Our Upcoming Adventure To Ecuador...

Dear Friends:

Only nine more days till we take off to a new adventure -- to help poor kids in Ecuador!

We're embarking with Causes For Change International, Inc. (www.causesforchange.org) Through one of his dental patients, my husband, Joel, discovered that this program needed dentists. It's a bonus that Joel also speaks fluent Spanish. (They have adult translators.)

My son, Andrew, Andrew's buddy, a college student friend, and Joel will all be leaving on July 23rd, and we'll be joined by about 25 other people. I have a feeling this will be an experience of a lifetime.

Joel will be one of five dentists, along with two doctors, a nurse, and a variety of other volunteers -- both youth and adults -- who will provide free healthcare to kids who have never received any care at all. From our team meeting last Sunday, I know we'll definitely have many eye-opening experiences.

We'll be visiting four different remote villages, and staying in a modest hotel in Narajal -- about 90 minutes from Guayaquil, Ecuador. Zully Alvaredo, the director of Causes For Change was a poor orphan from that community, who almost died as a child from lack of adequate nutrition and healthcare. She wanted to give back to the villages, so no child would have to suffer as she did. We were told that in one village, we'll be visiting an Indian tribe, the Shuar (not sure of spelling), who were just discovered by the outside world in the 1980's!!!

There will be NO electricity, so the dentists will be doing strictly oral surgery - pulling teeth. The children are mostly elementary age, and have never received medical or dental help. As a non-medical/dental volunteer, I'll be asked to help out in different ways -- from keeping the kids calm as they wait in line to doling out small little gifts to the kids after they receive treatment.

Thanks to an email blast, along with a local article in the Pioneer Press, we've gotten a tremendous response in gathering small stuffed animals for donations! THANKS to all of you who have helped us out! I believe we'll now have close to 1000 toys! Whooooooeeee! The anticipated total of kids who will be treated is going to be TWO THOUSAND KIDS!!!! (That's just in one week -- with five dentists at work from early morning till evening.)

So -- that's my corner of news for now... Will do my best to keep a journal while we're there. A van will take us to each village -- and they're about an hour away... so I'll have a little time free on the van. I'm excited to see another part of the world and help these kids. The organization is even going to find a little guitar for me to play for the kids.... Nice, huh?

Looking forward to sharing more...

All the best,
Lynn