As I’ve mentioned to a few of you I’ve recently committed to spending a week in Peru on a mission trip.  Why would I take a week off in our busiest time of the year and leave my wife at home with two young children?  Well, basically, I’m combining two of my greatest passions (Latin America and the Chiropractic way of life).  I have joined a wonderful organization called Hands for Change that serves the poorest neighborhoods of Lima, the captial of Peru.  We basically go in and set up a free chiropractic clinic to give the residents an opportunity for a better life!  We will be helping them for the same reasons we help you:   to restore a better connection in the human nervous system through specific chiropractic adjustments.  As you know this helps with things as simple as back pain to as complicated as reducing seizures!

I have been on one similar mission ten years ago as a student, so it has always been a dream to go back as an experienced doctor (who actually knows what he is doing!).  In this case I’ll also be able to serve as a Spanish translater.  I promise I’ll take pictures and write a story about this incredible journey on my return to share with you!

As many of you may have noticed, starting this week in the office we have made finger puppets available for a small donation.  These are handmade in the very neighborhoods which I will be visiting  and working in.  Women in these villages can make 3-5 of these puppets each day.  Hands for Change purchases these puppets directly from the women for 3-4 times for what they would normally receive in Peru.  The proceeds that we receive from your donation will go directly back to the villages in which the puppets were made in the form of health and educational resources.  Each of these little puppets has a huge affect on people’s lives!

We are very excited to be working this year with Hands for Change.   We have set a goal to raise $5000 in 2011 for this great cause.  In addition to the donations we receive from the finger puppets we will be donating the proceeds from our events such as dinner parties, street fairs, Patient Appreciation Week, corporate and school workshops, etc to Hands for Change.  And to get it started on the right foot as an office we have made an initial donation of $1500!  That means we are already almost 1/3 of the way to our goal; we know with your help we will reach it!

Thanks for all your help and I can’t wait to share this exciting experience with each and every one of you!

Dr. McKinley