North American Spine, Making Children Smile Through Charitable Work
Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) December 16, 2013 -- North American Spine, the leader in minimally invasive back surgery, is fulfilling a commitment to help less fortunate children from around the world.
North American Spine may be best known for its revolutionary AccuraScope procedure for relieving back pain, but now the Dallas-based company is giving back to those who need their help the most. North American Spine’s employees collected 1,304 pairs of new shoes to donate to Buckner International.
Buckner, also based in Dallas, is an organization with decades worth of work, dedicated to helping impoverished children.
The kids are in badly need of shoes to protect them from injuries and disease. Often times, these donated shoes will be the only new pair of footwear they’ll ever receive.
North American Spine CEO Chris Lloyd believes the company’s commitment to charitable work is important. In early December, Lloyd went on a mission trip to Guatemala where he was a member of a group that provided much needed emotional support for young children. He spent five days at a state run orphanage in Guatemala City, a place 600 children call home.
“Our mission is to show that someone does care and that they are loved, and that they do have a purpose in this life. We worked with 150 boys during the trip. We play a lot of games with them. We play basketball, American football, baseball, and ultimate Frisbee,” says Lloyd.
Mr. Lloyd says he was amazed at how the smallest gestures can brighten the kids’ day. “We act goofy and dance with them and play games with them. We take bags and bags of candy which is the international currency for children,” Lloyd says with a chuckle.
He contends North American Spine’s work with Buckner International and the children at the orphanage must continue. “I’d like to see this be an annual thing. We have an ongoing community outreach, there’s a lot of work to do at their warehouse, just sorting the shoes, or going through to make sure the shoes aren’t bad, broken or used,” says Lloyd, speaking about the large warehouse full of donated shoes at Buckner’s Dallas headquarters.
Lloyd pointed out that one of the most encouraging aspects of his mission trip was seeing the growth of the transitional centers in Guatemala. The centers provide homes which helps local families keep their children as opposed to putting them in one of the orphanages. Families are provided job skills, water, food, and clothes, all in an effort to keep their families intact.
This is the second trip to Guatemala for Lloyd. He says his goal is to get a group together from North American Spine to go down to Guatemala for a similar trip. “To me, it’s the fabric of who we are. Hopefully the people we hire see the world the same way. And so it’s just a natural consequence of the people we bring together, that we have the same values and want to help others. It’s the reason we founded this business,” says Lloyd.
To learn more about how you can help Buckner International’s efforts to help the world’s children, click on http://www.buckner.org/. And to learn more about North American Spine, log on to http://northamericanspine.com/.
Jon Sasser, North American Spine, http://northamericanspine.com, +1 (214) 378-4614, [email protected]
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