A Heart for Giving

A A H HE EA AR RT T F FO OR R G GI IV VI IN NG G

Aquinas Alumni give of their time and talents for those most in need

The holiday season is often filled with the hustle and bustle that the season brings. However, for many it is a time to reflect on the blessings in our lives and a time to give back. Giving back is an ideal that has been instilled in Falcons since the school opened and is one of the core values that many alumni carry with them throughout their lives. So in this holiday season, we wanted to introduce you to a couple alumni and their philanthropic work that demonstrate that spirit of giving.

Amber Mejia class of 2005

My name is Amber Mejia, and I am an Aquinas High School alumna, class of 2005. I was born and raised in Southern California where I attended Our Lady of the Assumption and Aquinas. While attending Aquinas, I participated in a various activities including cheerleading, student government, yearbook, and mayor’s youth council. After graduating from Aquinas, I completed my undergraduate degree at California State University, San Bernardino, where I received my bachelor’s degree in nursing. For the past 12 years, I have worked as a registered nurse. I became a certified emergency nurse, and I have been fortunate to receive numerous educational opportunities and invaluable training experiences while working in emergency departments (ED) in California and Illinois.

In 2019, I was blessed with the opportunity to participate in a medical mission to Iraq with a nonprofit organization founded by one of the ED physicians that I work with. A group of medical professionals traveled to internal displacement camps to provide medical services to patients that do not have adequate access to medical treatment on a regular basis. This experience changed my practice as a healthcare provider and inspired me to apply for graduate school to obtain my master’s degree in nursing. After this medical mission, I knew that mission work was something that I was very passionate about, and I felt that an advanced education would provide me with the skills I need to provide the best care for underserved populations all over the world.

In March of 2020, I participated in my second medical mission with Health-e-Charity. On this trip, we traveled to India and held an educational symposium for the physicians and nurses in rural hospitals. We held lectures and skills labs with a goal of providing their medical team with new skills and evidence-based practice guidelines that they can use in their patient care activities. While in India, COVID-19 struck the world in a way that no one was prepared for, making travel, and getting home quite a challenge. Our mission was shortened due to the increasing severity of the pandemic, and we made our way home to battle the pandemic in America. Most of our mission team is made of emergency and trauma physicians and nurses, and so we returned home to work the front lines with our coworkers and friends.

Being an ED nursing during a pandemic proved to be some of the most challenging months of my career. It really brought to light how fragile and precious life is, and how often we take so many

things that are readily available to us in America for granted. I often found myself thinking about all the people I met in India, and how grateful I am that we were given the opportunity to teach them skills that hopefully helped them to save lives while also battling COVID-19. I continued to work full time in the ED while finishing my master’s degree. Finding clinical placement during a pandemic also proved to be a challenge, but despite the challenges of 2020, I graduated with my master’s degree in nursing in 2021. I am now working as a certified family nurse practitioner in the emergency department at Loma Linda University Health. I am beyond grateful for the educational opportunities that I have been given throughout my career. I know that my success is attributed to the strong foundation that was set forth by attending schools in my formative years that stressed the importance of continued education while providing a Christian environment that fostered growth and opportunities to make a positive impact on this world.

In February of 2023, I will be traveling to the Philippines for my first medical mission since the pandemic and since becoming a nurse practitioner. I am looking forward to returning to mission work and sharing this experience with you all.

Add a little bit of body text

Lindsay Barto class of 2003

Lindsay Barto graduated from Aquinas in 2003. During his time there he participated in numerous community service projects all of which taught him a great deal about spending time helping others.

In 2014, Lindsay and his fellow Sigma Nu Fraternity brother, Chris Healy, co-founded the Longhairs, selling Hair ties for Guys. By 2018, Lindsay and Chris appeared on Shark Tank where they secured a deal and Mark Cuban as an investor. It was obvious that the Longhairs had launched a very successful business. However, not just wanting to be a successful business, Lindsay and Chris immediately put in a charitable component, an outreach program called Longhairs Do Care.

Furthermore, the duo did not want the biggest accomplishment of the business to just be a successful appearance on Shark Tank. So they decided to attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the most hair donated to charity in a 24 hour period and came up with the Great Cut event in 2019. They proved to be successful in the venture, breaking the world record with 339.14 lbs of hair donated. In addition, the event raised 50k for Children with Hair Loss. The business donates 1% of their top line revenue to an organization, Children with Hair Loss, whose mission is to provide human hair replacements at no cost to children and young adults facing medically-related hair loss. Currently, they provide a customized human hair replacement and care kits to over 600 children a year.

The Longhairs are heavily involved with the organization and have established a true partnership. They attend the annual charity ball in Michigan and emceed the event this past year. “I've meet hundreds of kids over the last 8 years suffering from all kinds of ailments ranging from cancer to alopecia. Seeing the confidence and joy it gives one of these children to have a real hair prosthetic is a powerful thing. We do everything we can at The Longhairs to support the great charity Children With Hair Loss and their mission to serve as many of this children across the country ” said Lindsay.

This was a huge event, a record setting event and the group is preparing to do it again in 2024. To learn more about the Great Cut 2024, visit their page: https://thegreatcut.us