FTR Africa Outreach

 

There's now a little piece of FTR in Africa. Six villages of the Kusungo District in northern Malawi were the grateful recipients of three huge suitcases full of donated clothes, thanks to the mighty efforts of FTR Volunteer Coordinator Rachel Santizo and the generosity of dozens of FTR members.

 

The four pillars of the FTR mission - exercise, nutrition, service and creativity -- have become so engrained that a family vacation to visit Ian's sister Tessa turned into an FTR outreach celebration in Malawi. Tessa, who helped develop FTR's Food To Recover last summer, now works for the Clinton Development Initiative, bringing nutrition and agriculture knowledge to rural farm villages. Here, people live for the rains. They have no running water, electricity or transportation. But they have joy. They have song, dance, laughter and the brightest of souls, and now, thanks to FTR, they have new clothes. Thank you FTR!

 

Photos from top left: A young village man shows off his new FTR shirt and shoes; Ian leads a bootcamp run; Tessa laughs with a woman from the village; FTR Africa bootcamp; sharing FTR clothing with the village; checking out the village garden.

Here at FTR we affectionately refer to John Parrish as our "Homie," because even though he's run a multi-million dollar organization, he's here with us on the ground to help out where needed. We are privileged to receive his wise insight and guidance as we grow larger to serve more people in recovery.

John recently retired as President of Midwest Floor Coverings Inc. and also just stepped down as the Board Chair of the Fourth Street Clinic where he served on the Board in various capacities for nine years. The Fourth Street Clinic provides free primary medical care for the homeless population of Salt Lake City. 

 

Enthusiasm for our work can be seen in his sparkly eyes every time he stops by the gym.