On Thursday, October 25th, Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) presented an Angel in Adoption award to doctors at the Slocum Center for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Eugene, Oregon. Congressman DeFazio chose to recognize Slocum for their generous donation to the hospital Holt is building in Ethiopia.

"So you’re the guy I need to talk to about a donation for Holt."

As one of Holt’s directors of donor relations, Larry Carter loves hearing these words. And yes, he is the guy to talk to. About a year and a half ago, Larry received a phone call from a Holt adoptive father named Patric Campbell. Patric needed to talk to Larry about a donation.

This one was unusual.

In 2009, Patric and Holly Campbell traveled to Ethiopia to bring home their son, Miles. While there, they visited the maternal-child hospital that Holt is building in the rural, southern region of Shinshicho – an impoverished community very close to their son’s birthplace. Across the road from the hospital stood a health clinic providing limited outpatient services for Shinshicho and neighboring communities -- the only health facility in a region of about 250,000 people. Anyone requiring more involved health care would have to travel 12 miles to the nearest hospital. But few people have the resources to go that far. This often creates a life-or-death situation for seriously ill patients, especially children and pregnant women.

By building a hospital, Holt is working to meet the urgent healthcare needs in this community.

Once home in Eugene, Patric couldn’t get Shinshicho off his mind. “When we got home with Miles, I couldn’t let it go,” he says. If he saw any opportunity to help, he would jump.