Dr. Tom Brian and his wife, Sharon, are the founders of Send Hope. The nonprofit supports and assists over 1,000 children in the remote area of La Moskitia, Honduras, through the House of Hope children's home, Katrina Engle Memorial Nourishment Program, and other community outreach initiatives.
When Dr. Tom Brian graduated from medical school, he initially thought he would be a missionary.
“I’m a Methodist, so I wrote to the general board of global ministries, but they said we don’t have money to send out missionaries.”
So Dr. Brian delayed his plans and started his dental practice in Allen, TX, in 1974. In 1991, a man joined his church and shared his plan to serve Honduras's people.
“I had never heard of short-term missions back then,” said Dr. Brian, “I told him I was a dentist, and I would like to go with him.”
On Dr. Brian’s first mission trip, he was tasked with pulling teeth.
“The first two people I saw on the trip were two young ladies between eighteen and twenty who had a little bit of decay between their front teeth.” Dr. Brian said, “You could barely see the decay, and I said those could be filled easily.”
Once Dr. Brian returned to the states, he searched for additional supplies to better serve the people of Honduras. The trip had affirmed his calling, and within several years, he took short mission trips every six weeks.
“When you put together your passion and your vocation–when those two cross–that’s a real high,” said Dr. Brian.
Currently, Send Hope has a fully functioning dental clinic, a children’s home called the House of Hope which supports children and youth with disabilities, and a school across from the main campus, loaned free to the government to conduct classes as a public elementary school.