A fundraiser to bring back hope

CYNTHIA RAMSAY

Most Vancouverites familiar with the humanitarian work of Dr. Rick Hodes, medical director of Ethiopia for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), likely were introduced to it through the efforts of Gary and Nanci Segal and their family to help Tesfaye, a young Ethiopian man crippled by spinal tuberculosis, receive life-saving surgery. But Hodes has lived and worked in Ethiopia for more than 20 years and, currently the senior consultant at a Catholic mission, he has helped countless impoverished patients with heart disease, spine disease and cancer. The Segals, among others, would like to see him continue that work.

Co-sponsored by the University of British Columbia faculty of medicine branch for international surgery, the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and the JDC, An Evening to Bring Back Hope will take place on April 4. Proceeds from the event, as well as any other donations related to it, will be directed to Hodes’ mission in Ethiopia and the UBC branch for international surgery.

“The decision to hold this gala fundraiser in support of Dr. Hodes’ work seemed to naturally evolve as we progressively got closer to Rick and his work over these past five years,” explained Gary Segal, who is co-chairing An Evening to Bring Back Hope with his wife, Nanci. “As the Jewish Independent article [“A striking message of tikkun”] in January last year recounted, the first time I met Rick and had my first exposure to his inspiring life of humanitarian work with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee was in 2007, on a Vancouver Jewish Federation mission that I went on with my son, Justin. Then, on that fateful return trip in 2008 with Nanci and both my sons, to attend the dedication of a small schoolhouse that we built as a result of Justin’s initiative, we spent a lot more time with Rick and his foster children. This led to our meeting Tesfaye and the incredibly rewarding experience my family went through bringing Tesfaye to Vancouver in 2009 for life-changing spine surgery. In early 2010, shortly after his return to Ethiopia, I accompanied Tesfaye on his first trip back to his village and witnessed a joyous reunion and three-day celebration of his ‘rebirth’ by family and villagers, and again got to spend some quality time with Rick and his family.”

Segal said the more he got to know Hodes, the more he wanted others to know him and the more he wanted to enable the doctor’s work to continue. Explained Segal, “I started with hosting a small parlor event at my house in January 2011, and was gratified with the response from the small group that attended. It was a good start but, for some time, I had a vision, supported by Nanci and my four children, to hold this kind of gala fundraiser that is now happening April 4. The purpose is twofold – to inspire people by introducing them to the life and work of this rare individual, Jewish hero, humanitarian and friend of mine, Dr. Rick Hodes, and to raise as much money as I can through this to help him save even more lives.”

Adding to his resolve was a “first-of-its-kind gala” in Denver that he and Nanci attended the week after that parlor event. Called A Dinner of Unconditional Love, it was put on by a philanthropic Irish Catholic restaurant owner, Noel Cunningham, who was impressed by Hodes – an Orthodox Jewish doctor working with the Catholic nuns of Mother Teresa’s Mission, saving the lives of the Christian and Muslim sick and destitute.

However, Segal added, “I still might not have gone ahead if it wasn’t for Rhonda Sacks, whom I first got to know when she called me out of the blue in 2009 to introduce herself and tell me she was following my blog about Tesfaye with great interest.... A friendship between us soon evolved, she knew what I hoped to do, and then she and her business partner, Chantelle Wong, became our steering committee chairs. It is a big task trying to launch a new event and build an organization from the ground up, and it couldn’t have happened without Nanci’s support, Rhonda and Chantelle, UBC and the great team we have assembled.”

An Evening to Bring Back Hope has 16 honorary committee members, 28 people on the steering committee and an administrator.

“Gary, Nanci, Chantelle and I sat down and made an extensive list of personal contacts. We wanted to ensure that the committee would reflect our multicultural, interfaith theme,” explained Sacks of the steering group. “As well, we wanted to ensure that we had representation from different business sectors and included members across the generations.

“Last fall, we invited dozens of people for ‘cocktails and conversation’ to learn more about the event and then asked them to sign on. Everyone who was in attendance said ‘yes.’ The UBC faculty of medicine came to the table with five members who have been an invaluable part of the team.... We held only five meetings and, with three weeks to go, we are practically sold out!”

The partnership with the UBC branch for international surgery, under the direction of Dr. Robert Taylor, originated from a meeting that Segal set up for Hodes in Vancouver in January 2011 with other doctors interested in global health initiatives. After that session, said Segal, “some key senior faculty of medicine members were determined to have something concrete come out of it and to have an ongoing relationship to support Rick’s work. I am very grateful that they indeed pursued this and, with the support of Dr. Taylor and assistant dean Sarah Roth, after a number of months and many meetings ... we are proud to launch this new initiative at the Evening to Bring Back Hope. Trying to help with the ‘big picture’ and sustainability issues facing Rick has always been something else I wanted to try to address, and this new partnership will help in this regard.”

“The branch for international surgery at the University of British Columbia was created to advance surgical care in international health,” explained Taylor to the Independent. “The branch began as an informal initiative led by a small group of UBC surgery-related faculty who, through their own involvement globally, were committed to improving surgical care in low-resource regions of the world.

“From this beginning in 2003, the branch has evolved into a collaboration of five surgery-related departments of UBC’s faculty of medicine,” he continued. “It is focused on educating the university community to prepare surgical graduates to understand the world in which they live.... In mission focus, the branch and Dr. Rick Hodes are kindred spirits. The focus is also in step with UBC’s stated desire to be ‘Canada’s University for the world.’”

The branch of international surgery-Hodes partnership “will support curriculum development, international resident clinical research scholarships and guest faculty support,” said Taylor. “Dr. Hodes has appealed to the branch to assist him in researching some of the clinical and epidemiological questions concerning the patients for whom he cares and advocates. As well, the branch’s new graduate course on global disability will benefit from Dr. Hodes’ experience as a guest faculty. Together, we will also explore how the surgical faculty at UBC can contribute both to direct care of his patients and to the strengthening of Ethiopia’s national health-care system. We envision this partnership as supporting the sustainability of Dr. Hodes’ work through the development of tomorrow’s global health leaders – in Canada, in Ethiopia and beyond.”

Relevant to the idea of future leaders, Segal pointed out that King David High School and a UBC faculty of commerce student group led by Noam Gilead are also supporting Hodes’ work – the school will be donating proceeds generated from their spring fair on March 25 and the UBC group will be contributing from their annual fundraising event the following week.

According to the Evening to Bring Back Hope website, $5,000 treats four patients with Hodgkin’s disease using cancer medicine from India, $7,500 funds a UBC international resident clinical research scholarship, $12,000 funds two surgeries (on average) in India for patients with rheumatic and congenital heart disease and $18,000 funds spine surgery in Ghana by international volunteer medical teams. If people can’t make it to the April 4 dinner, Sacks and Segal said that sponsorships and donations are always welcome. “Any and every amount is deeply appreciated,” stressed Sacks. “As well, we are recruiting volunteers (18 years and older) to assist with various tasks throughout the day on April 4.”

She said that Federation has supported the event in various ways, including ticket sales. As well, she noted, Federation “will provide appropriate tax receipts for the evening and will distribute 100 percent of the net proceeds to Dr. Hodes’ life-saving mission in Ethiopia and the UBC faculty of medicine branch for international surgery.”

As part of An Evening to Bring Back Hope, the website promises celebrity guests and, while Sacks wouldn’t reveal who some of them might be, she said, “since many of Dr. Hodes’ patients are children and youth, the entertainment for the evening will be two young ‘up-and-comers.’”

The highlight of the event, however, likely will be the chance to meet and hear from the young man who captured the Segals’ attention back in 2008.

“Tesfaye is arriving in Vancouver on Sunday, March 31, and leaves the following Saturday evening,” said Segal. “He is looking forward to spending time with my wife and children, seeing my pet cockatoo, Mango, and dog, Ziggy, again (they love Tesfaye), and I know he is excited to meet my almost two-year-old granddaughter Kacey for the first time. I am sure he is a little nervous about talking at the gala event, but will be great doing it and he has a powerful message to convey. My wife and four children have really missed Tesfaye since 2009, so we are all anxious to see him again and get a dose of his charm, warmth and sense of humor.”

Since Tesfaye’s return to Ethiopia, Segal said he has continued to live in Addis Ababa, near Hodes, sharing a room with another young man who has had spine surgery. “This year,” said Segal, “he is in Grade 8, after skipping Grade 7. He is a keen student and consistently ranks high in his class standings. He continues to be one of the happiest and most upbeat people I know, and I know that, since his surgery, he not only feels so much better physically, but also is much more confident. He feels like he has been given a new life, and is thankful for it.”

Segal intends to visit Ethiopia again, to see parts of the country he has yet to see and to spend time with Hodes and his family, and with Tesfaye and his family (who live in Gojjam). He added, “My two daughters have never been, so I would love one day to have a chance to bring my daughters along and experience Ethiopia with them.”

In his interview with the Independent, Segal also said, “Another interesting trip to visit Rick and see Ethiopia may present itself at the Evening to Bring Back Hope dinner, as a friend of mine is putting together a group excursion to Ethiopia based around elements of the popular book Cutting for Stone, which is set in Ethiopia, and a spot may be made available by auction.”

The name for the gala – An Evening to Bring Back Hope – was chosen, explained Segal, “because it incorporates a number of different overlapping themes: Dr. Rick gives hope to the sick and destitute, one of the key areas Rick deals with are severe back conditions, Tesfaye’s name means ‘My Hope’ in Amharic and, despite his debilitating spine condition, Tesfaye never gave up hope that a solution would come one day.”

For more information about the Bring Back Hope initiative, including the April 4 gala dinner at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, which is now taking names for a waitlist, visit bringbackhope.com.

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