My name is Jeff Ellefson from Frisco, TX in the Dallas area. Through prior tennis activities at Bent Tree CC, in Dallas, TX, about 11 years ago, I met Steve Miller, President of HELPS. I had no idea what Steve had been doing in Guatemala, up until our first HELPS tennis event a few years ago. My wife, Nancy, and I have been supporting HELPS for 6 years via the Pro-Am Tennis events that have been conducted at Bent Tree CC.  Every year, all of us participants that enjoy tennis and a good standard of living in the US, would hear Steve talk about the HELPS effort with Medical Teams, the installation of "ONIL Stoves" and all the benefits HELPS brings to people in a third world country I really did not know much about. I thought I understood the "good" that was being done for these "poor people" living in remote parts of a Central American country recovering from a very long and ugly civil war that ended in 1996. What is funny in hind sight is that, until I made my first expedition to Guatemala this last Jan 2010 with the Dallas/St Cloud Medical Team organized by Jon Christiansen, I had no idea (clueless is a better word) how bad things could be for a person and at the same time how great and life changing this effort by HELPS really is. 

Let me explain my journey from my first days supporting HELPS until now. Here is what I learned on my first of many future trips to a very beautiful country inhabited by some of the most beautiful, hard working and respectful, native people (their "true wealth" is much greater than you can imagine despite their economic peril) you will ever meet: 

1) Supporting HELPS via fund raising efforts is a very critical part to all these life changing efforts for Guatemala.

At the fund raising events, one really does not understand how much can be done with so little of resources until one sees this effort in person.

On my HELPS, American Airlines, direct flight from Dallas to Guatemala City on January 9, 2010, my assigned seat was next to Dr. Stice, a HELPS veteran plastic surgeon from Omaha that had been on one of the first HELPS trips to Guatemala in the late 1980s. Her stories of how she repaired burned hands and faces caused by three stone fires or the clef pallets/facial corrections fixed in young children really opened my eyes, and I started to connect the dots about what the purpose of my HELPS trip was: to deliver Stoves to homes that will prevent these types of injuries to innocent children. WOW!

From the first day arriving at Nebaj after an 8 hour bus ride from Guatemala City, I hit the ground running in order to help the MED team setup for patients that were literally waiting outside the perimeter fence of the hospital. Someone said, "Find a Doctor and see where you can help!" I found Dr Tracy Powell, from St Cloud, MN and just kept working until I found the things he needed to see his first patient 2 hours after our arrival. This initial encounter led me to meet other St Cloud MED team members like, Dr. Heath, Dr .Schmidt, Jeff Malikowski, and Matt Bilski. 

Now, knowing that MED teams donate their professional time and pay a fee to cover travel and living expenses, is a great indicator about how great all the HELPS volunteers are and their incredible outlook on life.  THEY GET IT!! I was honored to be able to meet and work with all these people (too numerous to mention and those of you that met me just know you are part of my memories) and later call them my friends.   

2) My experience on the Stove Team (I am a Stover) was some of the most tiring but rewarding work I have ever done.

Growing up on a small farm in South Dakota and working in construction to pay my way through college, I can truly say I realize what manual labor is.  A peanut-butter and jelly sandwich never tasted better than after we finished installing an ONIL Stove in a home, and we watched the HELPS staff show the new family how to condition it with ashes from their old fire (this was almost spiritual to watch) and light the first fire in the new stove. The expressions of sheer amazement from this new technology lighting up each family member's face reminded me of my amazement the first time I ever saw a microwave oven pop popcorn. 

As a Stover, from the first night of your arrival, you are trained and supervised in the field by the HELPS team leaders on how to assemble and install an ONIL Stove. A very easy process, in part, due to the simple marvel of the unpatented ONIL Stove design.  Until I was in the field installing Stoves, I did not understand or realize the preceding commitment, hard work and financial commitment a Mayan family must complete before we delivered and installed their ONIL Stoves (one indoor ventilated stove and one outdoor large pot stove). Each family had to communicate their desire for an ONIL stove to a local community leader, attend HELPS training on how to maintain a Stove, pay a fee to HELPS for the Stove, plus pickup and haul all the materials we were to install to their home prior to our arrival.

The preliminary work done by the HELPS team and the new Stove family is really impressive compared to the installation time for this simple, but very efficient ONIL Stove. Understanding also that this Stove will save each family 2 days of labor per week in wood gathering (usually performed by the women), save each family 1,500 pounds of wood per year, prevent small children from being burned, and improve the air quality for the living and unborn family members is the true reward for me and my efforts in installing these simple stoves in 16 homes that impacted about 100 people directly, plus the future generations that will follow in each home.

 The final and most rewarding experience occurred while I was back in the base camp on night number 3, having just finished the evening meal when one of the recovery nurses and Geri Randall (from HELPS St. Cloud, MN) mentioned to me that a little girl (burned infant by falling into an open three stone fire) was in "recovery" after "releasing scar tissue" from both hands thus freeing her fingers that had been "bound" for a few years. The nurse asked me if I would like to go back and meet this little girl and her Mayan mother which I promptly said yes. I have a picture of myself with child and mother that caused an epiphany in my understanding of why I made my trip to Guatemala. I am richer now with these memories and will always cherish this experience and all of the future trips I will be making back to Guatemala along with my "new recruits" from the Dallas area. The Mayan people and my new HELPS family taught me about honesty, true friendship, effective communication, aid to others, and humility.  

3) Based on this emotional connection I now have with the Mayan groups of Guatemala, I have dedicated my next HELPS fundraising efforts toward some of my "network" of friends back in the Dallas area.

Some of these people have the "right car," country club membership, and best private school for their kids and spend a lot of money eating out at all the fancy restaurants in Dallas. These people are my target audience for fund raising by directly asking them for money after telling them of my experience and the good that HELPS can do for such a small amount of money (a bottle of good dinner wine) i.e. $250 buys a "combo" of one indoor and one outdoor Stove plus a passive water filter (did I mention the intestinal worms and harmful bacteria in the water that create family health issues, low birth weights, etc. Plus the smoke impact on the long term lung conditions of all family members). I am also going to ask for a lot of money to buy a lot of stoves PLUS challenge the donor to come with me (or send one of their kids) to Guatemala to install the Stoves they just purchased. My promise to them is that if they do not agree this is the best "vacation" they have ever had, I will refund their "trip fee." Safe bet in my mind!!

Here is the definition of a vacation: a break from work; a period of time devoted to rest, travel, and recreation, or helping others with a purpose to "pay forward".

I am richer and intoxicated from this "HELPS vacation"! Will you accept this same challenge by donating money or volunteering for a MED team or be a life time member of an ONIL Stove team?

If you say yes, trust me on this point; you will be leaving part of your heart in Guatemala with a special group of people, returning to your life in the USA with a better understanding about what truly matters in life, and have good memories and friends you will cherish for the rest of your life. As a young or older person, this trip is on the "must do" list. I will return as often I can with my "new recruits". Tell your friends to skip a dinner once a week or skip the expensive bottle of wine one night and buy an ONIL Stove through the HELPS web site. Every ONIL Stove saves lives, injuries, and wood. A stove impacts the women more than anyone else in the family. Women should help women by buying stoves! Women can effect change within the family  and the workplace, which will greatly influence our efforts to help women in Latin America. Simple!

Steve Miller, see what you did to me!!  THANKS BUDDY!! Intoxicating!!