It is already time for our 13th trip to the Dominican Republic! The Crown Council Group leaves tonight and tomorrow morning to begin a week of working with our friends from Esperanza and the people of the Dominican Republic. It will follow the same itinerary as our last trips in March and September on the North side of the island. After two days in Santo Domingo, we will travel north to the city of Samana where we will work for the remainder of the week.
Group of 38!
We have 38 people in our group with a variety of Dentists, hygienists, assistants, and translators. Our trip is hosted by Dr. Roy Hammond and his wife Glenda Hammond. Glenda has been on one trip before and she is a superstar. Coming along with Roy and Glenda this trip are Roy’s son, Roy Jr. and his wife Jennifer and their daughter Rebecca. Roy has also invited some friends, Nate Huntsman, Sara Huntsman, and Jared Needham. Jared Needham has been there since Sunday of this week working already with Roy and Glenda. His trip will last longer than the normal week.
We also want to welcome Dru Powers as our representative of the Crown Council along with her husband Tyler Powers, her mom Pat Horsley,and her brother in law, Matt Crane. Matt and Tyler are both working towards going to Dental School and becoming Dentists and so this is a great learning experience for them.
We want to welcome back Maribeth Brown, Chris Schreier, and Lynn Behner. They came last year and had such a wonderful time together they came back this year and are coming again next. We love having them and hearing them make up their cheers for the hygiene department. This trip Lynn brought along her husband Dale Behner, who is a dentist. She wanted to share this experience with him as well.
We also have Dr. Tommy Nabors and his team coming on the trip. They are new to the Crown Council and have raised thousands of dollars in Smiles for Life to come on this trip. We are so excited they are here. Their team consists of Dr. Nabors, Shannon Seals, Andrea Quilling, Emily Bess, Dana Laux, and Tosha Schatz.
We also have Dr. Allan Thomas and his team coming. They have also raised money for Smiles for Life to be here. Dr. Thomas is bringing his daughter Hope along and his team which consists of Kelcie Ruiz, Marci Kay Bingham, Robyn Scriber, Tiffany Peterson, and Cynthia Dial. Some of Dr. Thomas’s team has traveled to China before for a humanitarian trip so they are world travelers. We are so glad they are here.
We also have Dr. Jared Theurer and his father Dr. Craig Theurer coming along with Jared’s son Benjamin and his assistant Liz Taft. Dr. Jared and Dr. Craig will be switching off helping to train our Dominican Dentists that will be on the trip with us. They will do such a great job.
Lastly, we have Dr. John Granados and his wife Elaine, and their son Nick coming. Elaine has taught Hygiene for years so will be a great asset to our hygiene department. They are bringing Mary Carsen and her daughter Paige Carsen from their office.
Looking Forward!
What a great group this will be. We are aware of Hurricane Thomas that is happening but so far have the word that we are safe to go. The Esperanza team we have taking care of us is watching all aspects of our trip and will make sure we are completely safe. Make sure to follow this blog for daily updates on what we are doing and to see photographs of our journey. Here we go…………
