History

In 1976, while working as a registered nurse for Humana Corporation and attending the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville, Judy Schwank received a call asking her to help put together a medical team to go to Guatemala. A major earthquake had caused incredible death and destruction there. She made that trip and since the February 1976 earthquake in Guatemala, our Executive Director has been returning yearly to help the needy children of that country.

In 1981, she married William A. Schwank, MD, in Louisville, KY. Dr. Schwank is a University of Louisville trained neurosurgeon and is originally from Guatemala. In 1986 they began bringing children needing medical care to Kentucky through a national organization.

Needing more control over their work, in 1989 they formed a completely different non-profit group in Kentucky. During the time that they were working with these two agencies, they helped many children come to the United States from several different countries, primarily for needed medical care.

In late 2000, Judy resigned as the Executive Director in order to spend more time with family and to take care of some health problems. Their work with children in Guatemala was featured on several news programs, and NBC Dateline did a series on the program in 1998.