Bethesda Spreads God's Love Throughout the World

David Geske, Ph.D., chief executive officer at Bethesda, and Steve Jones, Bethesda's vice president and chief operations officer, recently returned from a trip to the Dominican Republic in an effort to provide better services for people with developmental disabilities in that country.

It's part of a continuing effort for Bethesda to use their professional expertise to help countries throughout the world provide the best possible services to people with developmental disabilities.

While visiting the Dominican Republic, Geske and Jones first visited Santo Domingo, where they met with a representative of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and described Bethesda and their relationship with the Home of New Hope in Santiago. Bethesda had provided some funds and various school supplies in the past year to this program.

The USAID provides assistance to foreign countries to assist in developing and improving various conditions in the country. They asked to be kept informed of Bethesda's activities and told Geske and Jones that funding assistance may become available in the future.

Geske and Jones then moved on to Santiago, where they visited the Home of New Hope. In addition to funds and supplies that Bethesda provided the Home, Bethesda's Board of Directors also allocated some funds for a training program for staff, families and other people from the community.

"We wanted to get feedback from some of the participants on the value of the training," stated Jones. "The response of the participants was outstanding - they learned a great deal about developmental disabilities and how to best serve the children."

They also met with members of the Board of Directors of the Home of New Hope to describe Bethesda's plan to employ an individual in Santiago to assist the Home and the area's Lutheran Missionaries.

Jones and Geske also had the opportunity to meet with people of International Child Care in Santiago, regarding the possibility of doing some joint training and service activities once a Bethesda employee is located in the Dominican Republic.

"It is a overwhelming experience to travel to various places in the world and use the principles that we use at Bethesda to help people with developmental disabilities," states Geske. "Seeing the faces of the children we are helping makes everything worthwhile. We look forward to our continued involvement in the Dominican Republic."

Due to their $172,500 grant from the Marvin M. Schwan Foundation, Bethesda supports various organizations worldwide in an effort to provide quality services for people with developmental disabilities throughout the world.

In August 2001, Bethesda became a member of IMPACT., a partnership among organizations providing services to people with disabilities, to promote global advocacy for the benefit of people with disabilities. [Visit IMPACT.'s Web site]