Why HBI? Wayne Centrone

It's grant writing time. Truth be known, there is no one time for writing grants - it is an all-time effort. 

​Writing grant applications affords me a place to really think about the who, what and why of Health Bridges. It gives me a chance to dig deeper into what makes HBI unique and our work a bit different. 

Many years ago, while working as a medical director for a large multinational NGO doing short-term outreach campaigns in developing countries, I saw firsthand the gaps that exist in charity services delivery. I witnessed a multitude of efforts to address health needs, overcome economic gaps, and tackle social challenges; and yet - it was hard to find any organization, group or initiative that partnered or collaborated in their efforts. The challenge I determined, was a lack of collaboration, and even coordination, between organizations and efforts.

This is where I envisioned a role for an organization like Health Bridges. What if an organization positioned itself to sit in the middle - in the gaps that exist between resource and need? What if the organization focused on brokering collaboration and partnerships to build a "sum of all parts" impact? This simple idea eventually grew into HBI.

In many ways the work of minding the gaps is not very sexy. It's work that supports others to do the sexy work. It is not about directly serving people with clean water or building new clinics in poor communities. Rather, it's the work of helping other organizations gain the resources, knowledge, and connections to build such interventions. 

​The work of HBI is about championing change by uniting efforts. We realized early on that our work must be based on securing longterm impact. And, we realized that longterm change can never be based on  charity, must be facilitated by local change agents, and needs to be linked to larger sustainable initiatives.

So, why HBI? Well . . . I think you can sum up our why by saying, we exist to build bridges today that will enable future generations to clearly and effectively walk into the lives they deserve. 

​Thank you for continuing to support our efforts. Stay tuned over the comings weeks as we embark on our 22nd year of the Team Perú Outreach Trip. We'll be blogging and uploading photos throughout the trip.

---