Regional Director’s Message

Happy fall to all of our NPH supporters throughout the Northwest!

As the leaves begin to fall here in Washington, we have been busy welcoming our sixth class of the NPH Seattle Institute, which brings six of our top young leaders and students to Seattle for a ten month leadership and formation program.  I shared last month that year’s class is especially meaningful for me, as Saravia, my goddaughter from Honduras was selected and is now living with my family.  I hope to introduce her and the other students to many of you throughout the coming months.  The first opportunity to meet them will be at our annual Gala on Saturday, November 5 at the Golf Club at Newcastle.  We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Edwin Vallecillo Betancourth and Dr. Pilar Silverman to share their work providing health care for our children.  Dr. Edwin will also share his inspiring story of growing up at NPH and becoming a doctor, running our internal medical clinic in Honduras.  It will be a special and fun evening filled with dinner, dancing, games, a fabulous auction and raffle, and your support will make a huge impact at NPH. 

For us, fall is also a time of gratitude for all the community partners who support NPH here in the Northwest.  Over the last month we’ve had the opportunity to work closely with Eastside Catholic School, one of our closest educational partners for many years.  In this month’s enewsletter, you can read reflections from EC faculty and students who visited NPH Nicaragua this summer.  Last week, our CEO Frank Donaghue came to Seattle to share NPH’s work at a Hispanic Heritage Month panel hosted at Microsoft, and the Microsoft Devices Division selected NPH USA as the beneficiary of their annual soccer tournament.  Our Associate Board for young professionals recently hosted a fun and successful tailgate party for NPH, and two of our key church partners in Bellevue, St. Louise Parish and Sacred Heart Parish, will be hosting us soon for events to support NPH.  Two local donors hosted events in their homes to raise awareness of NPH and build our local community of supporters.  We even have a group of students from Hawaii who have chosen to support a project at NPH for the second year in a row!  We are immensely grateful for the deep support from you, our local NPH community and family. Without you, we would not be able to help our children thrive – thank you.

Finally, we watched the hurricane pass through Haiti with heavy hearts and concern for our children, staff, volunteers and programs.  You can read an extended update from NPH Haiti, and listen to our recent interview on KIRO radio about the hurricane.  Thank you for reaching out to ask how NPH Haiti is faring and for supporting relief efforts through NPH.

With best wishes for a wonderful fall,

Katie Hultquist

Northwest Regional Director