SewHope in the News
Toledo-based nonprofit SewHope changing lives in Guatemala's rural communities"Recently, students from Mercy College of Ohio worked with SewHope to pack 10,000 meals bound for Guatemala. That effort inspired a collaboration to provide much needed tote bags for the students’ supplies.
Using leftover materials donated by local home furnishings store Betty Rumpf Interiors, for weeks the group worked to sew 165 bags. A student coined the name “Totes for Tomorrow,” and in early February, Ms. Ward delivered the bags to Guatemala. The bags brought endless joy to children who live in extreme poverty, SewHope organizers said." (READ MORE) |
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A Lifesaving Gift in Rural GuatemalaHelp transform cervical cancer from a leading killer of women in Guatemala to a well-managed disease. When Rhonda Blue first heard about this opportunity, she jumped at the chance.
As part of her work at Hologic, Blue supports laboratories and healthcare providers in the U.S. Gulf Coast region to emphasize preventive care against cervical cancer through co-testing (use of the Pap test and the HPV test together). She’s proud that routine screening is a key reason the disease has gone from being the top killer of women in the U.S. to one of the most preventable cancers in the nation... (READ MORE) |
SewHope and Kids Coalition Against Hunger are sending 250,000 meals
to Guatemala in late 2024.
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Students at Mercy College in Toledo, Ohio contributed 12,000 meals to the shipment during their Heritage Week packing event.
"Raising his hands in a quick and informal blessing, Michael Burwell, executive director for Kids Coalition Against Hunger, consecrated the volunteer’s mission before they began packing.“These are my hands,” he said, with everyone repeating his words and gestures. “And today I will use them to serve.” With a few more words of encouragement, Mr. Burwell energized the groups of meal packers, who took turns spooning parts of the meal portions into funneled bags." |
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By Barbara Hendel
March 9, 2023 |
SewHope raises funds, celebrates accomplishmentsTHE TOLEDO community continues to help others.
SEWHOPE's annual Love Ends All Poverty fund-raiser was March 3 at the Premier Banquet Hall. The first in-person event for the Toledo-based nonprofit since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, it drew more than 300 supporters. SewHope has been partnering with the poor, marginalized, and exploited in Guatemala to help end the injustices of poverty for more than 15 years. It was founded by local OB-GYN and Compassion Health Toledo founder Dr. Anne Ruch and her husband Dr. Randall Ruch in December 2007. SewHope, whose board members are all Toledo residents, has expanded from its early days screening women for cervical cancer in a local home and educating children on the front porch. In January it opened a licensed, independent Guatemalan school, and its cervical cancer program is recognized by the Guatemalan Ministry of Health as the best in the area, the Ruches reported in a press release. SewHope plans to open the only cytology school in Guatemala in 2024, and this year's goal is to raise $75,000 to fund that endeavor. (READ MORE) |
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By Maya May on October 23, 2022
on WTOL 11 |
Hundreds turn out to enjoy great weather, 8 miler and 5K fundraiser at Secor MetroparkSYLVANIA, Ohio — More than 200 runners and walkers laced up their shoes and enjoyed the warmth for the annual Falling Leaves 8 miler and 5K at Secor Metropark on Sunday.
The race is put on by the Toledo Road Runner Club with all money raised going to help Guatemalan communities in need. The Road Runners Club partnered with Second Sole and local non-profit SewHope. The organizers are making sure the money goes to a good place... (READ MORE) |
Hope and health for Guatemala, courtesy of a Toledo nonprofitCERVICAL CANCER is not often an issue among American women because of preventive medicine, but women in other parts of the world are not as fortunate. Dr. Anne Ruch of Ottawa Hills learned that firsthand in her initial trips to Guatemala.
Those trips laid the groundwork for an involvement in that Central American country by the nonprofit she founded, SewHope, which has evolved far beyond its original goal of preventing cervical cancer. Today, the people in that remote area are working toward having access to sustainable food production, clean water, education, health care—and the possibility of a healthy life and a promising future... (READ MORE) |
By Dennis Bova on Monday, March 28, 2022
in Healthy Living News |
By Vincent Lucarelli / The Blade- Mar 08, 2022
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Local nonprofit makes a differenceAfter she began taking church trips to Guatemala in 1998, Anne Ruch began to notice some things in the country that needed to be changed.
“You get down there and see the poverty, and it’s just overwhelming,” Dr. Ruch, a practicing OB-GYN at Compassion Health in South Toledo, said on Monday. “I figured I’m a doctor so I can do these short-term medical mission trips.” Eventually, Dr. Ruch realized her short-term trips were not having the long-term desired effect she wanted, which led her and her husband in 2007 to create SewHope, a nonprofit established with the goal of alleviating poverty through healthcare and education in the Central American nation. The establishment of a school in Guatemala was always the zenith of SewHope’s mission... (READ MORE) |
Community food build volunteers package 60,000 meals for families with food insecurityNearly 300 people donated their time to package meals for families who are on the brink of starvation.
TOLEDO, Ohio — Each day, more people around the globe are faced with food insecurity. In Toledo, one in five children does not know where their next meal will come from. But, thousands of families will be able to get another meal, thanks to some local volunteers and a community food build held at St. John's Jesuit High School in south Toledo. The food packing event was held by SewHope, in partnership with Kids Coalition Against Hunger... (READ MORE) |
By Caylee Kirby, November 13, 2021
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Dr. Anne Ruch photographed at the SewHope meeting base: the dining room of her Ottawa Hills home. The physician’s deep faith led her on a mission trip to Guatemala; her medical abilities drew her back countless times for outreach efforts among the country’s poorest, most afflicted communities in the Peten region.
I was born in Ireland and grew up in Queens. My parents never went past the 6th grade, but my dad was probably the smartest person I ever knew in my life. He was a huge believer in education. It was expected that you could do everything. |
My mother always told me, make sure you’re independent.
It’s a dream job. You get to know your patients — it kind of spans the whole lifetime of a woman. Your patients become your best friends. And I think also, honestly, for me it’s almost like being in therapy, because you learn so much from people.
I was in church and the pastor announced one day that the church was going to Guatemala for outreach. It was 1998. I thought, as a doctor, I should go. The level of poverty was shocking. We were in Guatemala City, and we were going to a garbage dump, called la basura. We’re talking about the big things in life, and God, and getting to know each other, and all of a sudden we’re driving along and it started to stink. And you look out the window, and people are just lying on the floor looking half dead. And then you’re driving closer, and by the time you get to this place you just feel like you’re going to throw up. There were thousands of people living there. However you would picture hell, that’s what it looked like. I thought if there’s any God of any kind in this world, he did not create human beings to live like this.
They set us up to have a clinic at the recycling center next to this dump. There were just lines and lines of people. They will do anything to see you. So here I am, in a place I’ve never been before, I have absolutely no idea of their culture, no idea of their world view, I barely speak ten words of the language. I realized quickly that just making the trip on your own wouldn’t work.
At the time we decided to help we were working with a couple of missionary people in Guatemala that had their own little organization, and I think our idea was that initially we would support them. I wasn’t thinking at all what it would become. We picked on this region in Guatemala called Peten. Peten is about a third of Guatemala, and it was all jungle. It’s become one of those areas that’s completely deforested. It’s probably one of the most dangerous places in the world. And I’m so stubborn I said ‘We’ll go there.’
To give you an honest answer, I don’t think anybody does anything they don’t like to do. I think the truth is that I love this. I think that there is nothing better than being down there. [Guatemala is] probably one of the few things in my life I can say I have 100 percent trust that God is leading the way.
It’s a dream job. You get to know your patients — it kind of spans the whole lifetime of a woman. Your patients become your best friends. And I think also, honestly, for me it’s almost like being in therapy, because you learn so much from people.
I was in church and the pastor announced one day that the church was going to Guatemala for outreach. It was 1998. I thought, as a doctor, I should go. The level of poverty was shocking. We were in Guatemala City, and we were going to a garbage dump, called la basura. We’re talking about the big things in life, and God, and getting to know each other, and all of a sudden we’re driving along and it started to stink. And you look out the window, and people are just lying on the floor looking half dead. And then you’re driving closer, and by the time you get to this place you just feel like you’re going to throw up. There were thousands of people living there. However you would picture hell, that’s what it looked like. I thought if there’s any God of any kind in this world, he did not create human beings to live like this.
They set us up to have a clinic at the recycling center next to this dump. There were just lines and lines of people. They will do anything to see you. So here I am, in a place I’ve never been before, I have absolutely no idea of their culture, no idea of their world view, I barely speak ten words of the language. I realized quickly that just making the trip on your own wouldn’t work.
At the time we decided to help we were working with a couple of missionary people in Guatemala that had their own little organization, and I think our idea was that initially we would support them. I wasn’t thinking at all what it would become. We picked on this region in Guatemala called Peten. Peten is about a third of Guatemala, and it was all jungle. It’s become one of those areas that’s completely deforested. It’s probably one of the most dangerous places in the world. And I’m so stubborn I said ‘We’ll go there.’
To give you an honest answer, I don’t think anybody does anything they don’t like to do. I think the truth is that I love this. I think that there is nothing better than being down there. [Guatemala is] probably one of the few things in my life I can say I have 100 percent trust that God is leading the way.
Dr. Anne Ruch wins Woman of Distinction Award for work with SewHope
By Barbara Hendel- Oct 15, 2014
GIRL Scouts of Western Ohio recognized individuals during the third annual Women of Distinction awards Oct. 9 at the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion. The event was attended by 120 community partners, supporters, and family members of the nominees. The inspirational program filled with laughter and tears included keynote speaker, Jillian Fournier, a senior at Notre Dame Academy who shared her life changing experience at Camp Libbey.
The honorees were chosen because they exemplify the Girl Scout mission by living with courage, confidence, and character, and making the world a better place. Girl Scout Ambassadors (high school juniors and seniors) pinned the honorees and made them official Girl Scout members. Award recipients were Dr. Anne Ruch, SewHope Inc.; Martha Vetter, R/P Marketing Public Relations and Chicks for Charity; Cecelia M. Adams, Toledo Board of Education; Mary Ellen Mazey, president, Bowling Green State University; and Billie Johnson, Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Ohio Inc. About $10,000 was raised for Girl Scouts of Western Ohio, formerly the Maumee Valley Girl Scouts.
Sponsors included Block Communications, Hartmann & Associates Inc., KeyBank, Pro- Medica Toledo Children’s Hospital, Bowling Green State University, Morgan Stanley, and R/P Marketing Public Relations. For information, call 888-350-5090, visitgirlscoutsofwesternohio.org, or follow Girl Scouts of Western Ohio on Facebook.
The honorees were chosen because they exemplify the Girl Scout mission by living with courage, confidence, and character, and making the world a better place. Girl Scout Ambassadors (high school juniors and seniors) pinned the honorees and made them official Girl Scout members. Award recipients were Dr. Anne Ruch, SewHope Inc.; Martha Vetter, R/P Marketing Public Relations and Chicks for Charity; Cecelia M. Adams, Toledo Board of Education; Mary Ellen Mazey, president, Bowling Green State University; and Billie Johnson, Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Ohio Inc. About $10,000 was raised for Girl Scouts of Western Ohio, formerly the Maumee Valley Girl Scouts.
Sponsors included Block Communications, Hartmann & Associates Inc., KeyBank, Pro- Medica Toledo Children’s Hospital, Bowling Green State University, Morgan Stanley, and R/P Marketing Public Relations. For information, call 888-350-5090, visitgirlscoutsofwesternohio.org, or follow Girl Scouts of Western Ohio on Facebook.