WHO WE ARE
WHO WE ARE
Mission Statement:
“Hands On Global serves disadvantaged, underserved and displaced people hand-to-hand and heart-to-heart by providing medical support.”
Working collaboratively with underserved and refugee communities, Hands on Global Inc, primarily provides basic healthcare. We believe access to good healthcare is a human right. Our current projects are in remote underserved areas and refugee camps.The conditions are challenging and bring our team face to face with unexpected and difficult challenges. We confer with the local community and existing NGO’s in the field for direction and collaboration. Our teams are persevering, flexible, dedicated and creative in problem solving.
We believe everyone can contribute and everyone can make a difference.
HOGI teams have come to understand that though our primary projects are focused on healthcare by providing medical camps, these projects involve a comprehensive approach for success. Our model of community collaboration can involve us in infrastructure, social services, people’s empowerment, education, economic development as well as healthcare.
Working collaboratively with underserved and refugee communities, Hands on Global Inc, primarily provides basic healthcare. We believe access to good healthcare is a human right. Our current projects are in remote underserved areas and refugee camps.The conditions are challenging and bring our team face to face with unexpected and difficult challenges. We confer with the local community and existing NGO’s in the field for direction and collaboration. Our teams are persevering, flexible, dedicated and creative in problem solving.
We believe everyone can contribute and everyone can make a difference.
HOGI teams have come to understand that though our primary projects are focused on healthcare by providing medical camps, these projects involve a comprehensive approach for success. Our model of community collaboration can involve us in infrastructure, social services, people’s empowerment, education, economic development as well as healthcare.
Valerie Hellermann
Executive Director
Working to build a stronger, healthier, equitable and peaceful global community has been a lifetime goal. Valerie spent over ten years as the Project Manager for the Tibetan Children’s Education Foundation, a Montana based non-profit. During her tenure, she initiated and managed nutrition, health, education, clean water and solar heating projects throughout project sites in India. Valerie organized and led participatory service trips to implement and support these projects while engaging interested westerners.
As a former nurse, Valerie has turned her attention to projects addressing access to basic healthcare both nationally and internationally. At the request of H.H. the Dalai Lama and with Hands On Global Inc., Valerie organizes the yearly Zanskar Medical Camp working in collaboration with the Zanskar Health Committee in Northern India.
Dick Weaver
Board President
Dick Weaver is a retired minister of the United Church of Christ (a progressive church) who lives in Helena, Montana, with his spouse, Cathy Barker, also retired clergy. In addition to serving in churches, he has been a camp manager, a senior-residence bus driver, and a massage practitioner. Being retired has made it easier for him to get involved in things he cares about, and the work of Hands On Global is definitely at the top of the list.
Dick found out about HOG while accompanying group members to the Water Protector camps at Standing Rock, and has since traveled with them to Samos, Greece and Zanskar, India. The immediacy and intimacy of the work of Hands On Global is part of what appeals to him, and the hand-to-hand, heart-to-heart sense of mission fits very well with his sense of responding to the world.
Valerie Hellermann
Executive Director
Working to build a stronger, healthier, equitable and peaceful global community has been a lifetime goal. Valerie spent over ten years as the Project Manager for the Tibetan Children’s Education Foundation, a Montana based non-profit. During her tenure, she initiated and managed nutrition, health, education, clean water and solar heating projects throughout project sites in India. Valerie organized and led participatory service trips to implement and support these projects while engaging interested westerners.
As a former nurse, Valerie has turned her attention to projects addressing access to basic healthcare both nationally and internationally. At the request of H.H. the Dalai Lama and with Hands On Global Inc., Valerie organizes the yearly Zanskar Medical Camp working in collaboration with the Zanskar Health Committee in Northern India.
Dick Weaver
Board President
Dick Weaver is a retired minister of the United Church of Christ (a progressive church) who lives in Helena, Montana, with his spouse, Cathy Barker, also retired clergy. In addition to serving in churches, he has been a camp manager, a senior-residence bus driver, and a massage practitioner. Being retired has made it easier for him to get involved in things he cares about, and the work of Hands On Global is definitely at the top of the list.
Dick found out about HOG while accompanying group members to the Water Protector camps at Standing Rock, and has since traveled with them to Samos, Greece and Zanskar, India. The immediacy and intimacy of the work of Hands On Global is part of what appeals to him, and the hand-to-hand, heart-to-heart sense of mission fits very well with his sense of responding to the world.
Tama Adelman
Policy & Ethics Manager
Tama, a retired RN, yoga teacher and health educator, has extensive experience setting up Urgent Care Centers. She brings her expertise of “good practice” and holds us all to WHO standards. She oversees the projects budgets, recruiting and works closely with Valerie to set up all logistics for the trips.
Tama spends her retirement time travelling the world, always with an eye for volunteering both home and abroad.
Marty Finnegan
Treasurer
Marty Finnegan worked 28 years with the downstream division of a major oil company, living in six different countries in West Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and working in 31 others – before moving to the U.S. for a headquarters position. That did not really float his boat, so he took early retirement to go back overseas. He was Country Representative for Population Services International in Haiti, working on multiple public health projects; and then Project Manager for TechnoServe in Nigeria, working on the Sunlight Water Center village water project.
In recent years Marty has been volunteering with various U.S. groups, and moved to Helena in 2020 to more effectively spoil his grandchildren. He got involved with Hands On Global when he read about its first Ukraine mission.
Tama Adelman
Policy & Ethics Manager
Tama, a retired RN, yoga teacher and health educator, has extensive experience setting up Urgent Care Centers. She brings her expertise of “good practice” and holds us all to WHO standards. She oversees the projects budgets, recruiting and works closely with Valerie to set up all logistics for the trips.
Tama spends her retirement time travelling the world, always with an eye for volunteering both home and abroad.
Cathy Evans
Secretary
Cathy is a retired Human Resources Administrator, Training Consultant, Yoga Teacher, Hiker, Walker, Snorkeler and lover of the outdoors. She has brought skills in organizing projects, and completing adminstrative tasks. Cathy has a long list of volunteer work in San Diego County with refugees and homeless as well as volunteering internationally.
Cathy has been a support to Hands On Global medical teams on nine trips which include volunteering in India, Greece, Turkey and Ukraine.
Georgia Milan
Board Member
Georgia Milan is a Family Medicine Doctor who lives in Pocatello ID. She has worked with Hands on Global for a number of years making two trips to Refugee Camps in Greece and one to Zanskar. She is currently the Medical Director of the Pocatello Free Clinic (the longest opened free clinic in the U.S.) and medical consultant for Aid For Friends, the homeless shelter in Pocatello.
Georgia has an International Diploma in Humanitarian Aid from the University of Geneva and Fordham University. She also works with the Montana Migrant Council and has worked in numerous countries in Latin America, South America, India, Tibet and Nepal. She is a holistic medicine practitioner and very much appreciates her relationship with Valerie Hellerman and Hands on Global.
Cathy Evans
Secretary
Cathy is a retired Human Resources Administrator, Training Consultant, Yoga Teacher, Hiker, Walker, Snorkeler and lover of the outdoors. She has brought skills in organizing projects, and completing adminstrative tasks. Cathy has a long list of volunteer work in San Diego County with refugees and homeless as well as volunteering internationally.
Cathy has been a support to Hands On Global medical teams on nine trips which include volunteering in India, Greece, Turkey and Ukraine.
Georgia Milan
Board Member
Georgia Milan is a Family Medicine Doctor who lives in Pocatello ID. She has worked with Hands on Global for a number of years making two trips to Refugee Camps in Greece and one to Zanskar. She is currently the Medical Director of the Pocatello Free Clinic (the longest opened free clinic in the U.S.) and medical consultant for Aid For Friends, the homeless shelter in Pocatello.
Georgia has an International Diploma in Humanitarian Aid from the University of Geneva and Fordham University. She also works with the Montana Migrant Council and has worked in numerous countries in Latin America, South America, India, Tibet and Nepal. She is a holistic medicine practitioner and very much appreciates her relationship with Valerie Hellerman and Hands on Global.
Leslie Gibbs
Board Member
Leslie Gibbs is a Family and Emergency Nurse Practitioner with a background in trauma, primary/emergency/critical care, and refugee health. Leslie worked as Lead Nurse Practitioner in a very busy ER at Indiana University Hospital. She is now pursuing her doctoral studies at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Leslie speaks Spanish and is working on her Arabic, which has come in handy volunteering in humanitarian work on five continents including six trips with Hands On Global, and has a passion for refugee health in particular.
Lily Schroeder
Board Member
Lily is a registered nurse currently working as a traveling RN in emergency departments in the Western US. She started volunteering internationally several years ago and has done a variety of trips including refugee work in Greece and Bangladesh, cleft lip and palate work in China and Myanmar, and more general nursing volunteer work in Guatemala and India.
Lily is dedicated to the work of Hands on Global and is committed to the continuation of their programs.
Belinda Escanio
Board Member
Belinda Escanio is a Family Physician currently practicing geriatrics in Newport News, Virginia. She has a special interest working for underserved communities and was Lead Physician at a federally qualified health center in Washington state for several years.
Belinda is trained in opioid addiction management and also has experience as an urgent care physician. Of particular interest to Belinda is serving the the underserved communities around the world. Her global health interests have taken her on medical trips to Kenya, Nicaragua, Thailand, and Zanskar/India.
Kim Schleicher
Board Member
Kim Schleicher is yoga teacher and tour leader from Helena, Montana. She has a BS in Forest Biology and worked as a Wilderness Guard before beginning her travels for the Feathered Pipe Foundation. For 36 years Kim has led tours to beautiful, wild and sacred places around the world. Her favorite tours include yoga and she embraces the idea of Yogabeyonda: a practice of loving kindness and mindfulness, both on and off the mat.
Leslie Gibbs
Board Member
Leslie Gibbs is a Family and Emergency Nurse Practitioner with a background in trauma, primary/emergency/critical care, and refugee health. Leslie worked as Lead Nurse Practitioner in a very busy ER at Indiana University Hospital. She is now pursuing her doctoral studies at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Leslie speaks Spanish and is working on her Arabic, which has come in handy volunteering in humanitarian work on five continents including six trips with Hands On Global, and has a passion for refugee health in particular.
Lily Schroeder
Board Member
Lily is a registered nurse currently working as a traveling RN in emergency departments in the Western US. She started volunteering internationally several years ago and has done a variety of trips including refugee work in Greece and Bangladesh, cleft lip and palate work in China and Myanmar, and more general nursing volunteer work in Guatemala and India.
Lily is dedicated to the work of Hands on Global and is committed to the continuation of their programs.
Belinda Escanio
Board Member
Belinda Escanio is a Family Physician currently practicing geriatrics in Newport News, Virginia. She has a special interest working for underserved communities and was Lead Physician at a federally qualified health center in Washington state for several years.
Belinda is trained in opioid addiction management and also has experience as an urgent care physician. Of particular interest to Belinda is serving the the underserved communities around the world. Her global health interests have taken her on medical trips to Kenya, Nicaragua, Thailand, and Zanskar/India.
Kim Schleicher
Board Member
Kim Schleicher is yoga teacher and tour leader from Helena, Montana. She has a BS in Forest Biology and worked as a Wilderness Guard before beginning her travels for the Feathered Pipe Foundation. For 36 years Kim has led tours to beautiful, wild and sacred places around the world. Her favorite tours include yoga and she embraces the idea of Yogabeyonda: a practice of loving kindness and mindfulness, both on and off the mat.
Lucia Janovicova
Lucia is from Slovakia and is currently in a post-graduate program in Public Health and Infectious Diseases at St. Elizabeth University in Bratislava, Slovakia. Lucia has dedicated her career to children’s health, working in a small rural hospital in South Sudan, then on to Kenya, India, and the Greek islands of Lesvos and Samos.
I met the HOG team on Lesvos and quickly saw that we share the same professional and humanitarian values – offering compassionate caring to each and every human being. Since then, I have been honored to become a team member in Zanskar and Samos.
Karen Cooper
Massage & Bodywork Therapist
Karen is a certified holistic massage therapist, balancing body, mind & spirit in a practice that integrates multiple therapeutic strategies. She combines her passion for others with her profession by volunteering for Hands on Global medical missions. Over the past three years she has volunteered her services in refugee camps on Lesvos and Samos, Greece and in a Tibetan refugee hospital in Zanskar, India. She enjoys an active Montana lifestyle travelling, hiking, trekking in Nepal and participating in local sprint triathlons.
Barbara Schwartz
Social Media & Webmaster
Barbara has been a graphic designer, photographer and webmaster for most of her career. She graduated with a BS in Japanese and then earned her MSFS (Masters of Science in the Foreign Service) from Georgetown University. Being part of Hands on Global allows Barbara to combine both of her passions: International Relations and Design as she travels with the group and manages the HOG social media outreach and website.
Lucia Janovicova
Lucia is from Slovakia and is currently in a post-graduate program in Public Health and Infectious Diseases at St. Elizabeth University in Bratislava, Slovakia. Lucia has dedicated her career to children’s health, working in a small rural hospital in South Sudan, then on to Kenya, India, and the Greek islands of Lesvos and Samos.
I met the HOG team on Lesvos and quickly saw that we share the same professional and humanitarian values – offering compassionate caring to each and every human being. Since then, I have been honored to become a team member in Zanskar and Samos.
Karen Cooper
Massage & Bodywork Therapist
Karen is a certified holistic massage therapist, balancing body, mind & spirit in a practice that integrates multiple therapeutic strategies. She combines her passion for others with her profession by volunteering for Hands on Global medical missions. Over the past three years she has volunteered her services in refugee camps on Lesvos and Samos, Greece and in a Tibetan refugee hospital in Zanskar, India. She enjoys an active Montana lifestyle travelling, hiking, trekking in Nepal and participating in local sprint triathlons.
Barbara Schwartz
Social Media & Webmaster
Barbara has been a graphic designer, photographer and webmaster for most of her career. She graduated with a BS in Japanese and then earned her MSFS (Masters of Science in the Foreign Service) from Georgetown University. Being part of Hands on Global allows Barbara to combine both of her passions: International Relations and Design as she travels with the group and manages the HOG social media outreach and website.