Hey Everyone!

Thanks so much for visiting my pledge page! As you all must now know, I'm heading out to Honduras during the summer with the student organization, HEAL International. HEAL stands for Health Equality Activism and Leadership and in HEAL we are concerned with health care issues in areas where people may not get the best of care. Primarily, our focus is on family and maternal health. In Honduras, we help out in Copan Ruinas and Roatan. But when we're not in Honduras, we're helping out locally at health clinics all around Los Angeles.

In more detail, over the summer we will be working with our partner group, Life to Life Honduras. Our long term project is to set up a family health clinic. This clinic will be unique in its welcoming and nondiscriminatory atmosphere. In addition to providing standard medical care, the clinic will also train midwives in healthy and effective childbirth procedures that will allow women in remote communities to receive adequate care.

During the school year we participate in community health events such as AIDS Walk LA, mobile health clinics, and the Camp Laurel AIDS bike ride. As outreach coordinator, this semester I am planning volunteer opportunities at a wide variety of places. Hopefully we will be volunteering at the Los Angeles Mission, UMMA Clinic, and many more. Also, we have an USC Alumni Benefit Dinner in progress. We're aiming to host it late summer, either the weekend before classes start or the weekend of the first week. If you're interested in attending this fundraising event, please contact us at heal.international@gmail.com .

I am superbly excited about going to Honduras with my fellow HEAL members to help get this clinic going! I will definitely be updating everyone on my adventures in Honduras, so please come back to my page every once in a while in the summer! If you would like, please donate to my trip fund! I truly appreciate all your support!

Thanks once again!

Much love,
Michelle

Questions? Email me at michelle.leong@usc.edu
or visit the HEAL International website at http://www-scf.usc.edu/~healintl/index.php

For more information on Life to Life Honduras, please visit http://www.lifetolifehonduras.org/