"Raising children out of poverty through housing, infrastructure, and education to provide a chance at a better life through learned skills and career opportunities."
Hunter and his beloved bride of 32 years, live on the outskirts of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where they raised three children and have been active in youth ministry and religious education since college. A Nurse Practitioner and co-owner of Louisiana Sleep Foundation, Hunter has been practicing medicine since 1999. His desire to serve the poor in the name of Jesus led him into mission work, where he developed a deep compassion for the marginalized.
Fun Facts: As a Southern boy, Hunter enjoys fishing and bowhunting with family and friends almost as much as solo adventure backpacking and endurance mountain biking.
Mission Inspiration: Witnessing the steady love and support that the Catholic Church pours into these precious children, rescued from desperate situations, is profoundly moving. In their care, the girls heal, grow in confidence, and thrive against all odds.
Steve Whitlow has been married to his wife, Sharon, for 32 years, and they have three adult children: Sarah, Sam, and Jackson. A lifelong Catholic, Steve and his family are active parishioners at St. Alphonsus Parish in Greenwell Springs, LA. He has practiced law since 1992 and, with Sharon, co-owns the Whitlow Law Firm, LLC, focusing on successions, business planning, and estate planning.
Faith and service are central to the Whitlow family. Steve and Sharon are in the Permanent Diaconate Program with the Diocese of Baton Rouge and have served as PSR instructors, Confirmation mentors, adult faith formation leaders, lectors, and Eucharistic ministers.
Mission Inspiration: I have been invited on pilgrimages to server the poorest of the poor. These trips forever altered my understanding of service and sacrificial love. The missions have demonstrated extraordinary selfless love for their children. I have been blessed to visit holy destinations across the United States, Central America, and Europe, and visiting these missions has given me a complete immersion into the holy life of service.
Jamison has worked during his career as a paramedic, nurse, and now nurse practitioner, treating patients throughout the range of pre-hospital, adult and pediatric ER and Trauma ICU, IR, Inpatient Psych, and now specializing in Wound Care for the past several years. Now living in Jacksonville, Florida with his beloved wife and children, Jamison is beginning to focus on the underprivileged throughout his diocese, and dreams of helping them in as many ways as possible.
Prior volunteer work in Haiti fuels his drive to continue outreach for the poor across Central and South America as well, and the example of Mother Teresa and her sisters taught him how to see and serve Jesus in each person, no matter their status or condition or the language they speak.
Fun Facts: Jamison is an Eagle Scout, a certified barbecue judge, a licensed amateur radio operator, and loves outdoor fitness. He’ll take a ruck and a sandbag in a swamp or on a mountain, any day over something inside or on a screen.
Stevie Guillory is a true product of the Cajun heritage growing up in Eunice, Louisiana. For the past 22 years he and his family have resided in Baton Rouge. He is married to his lovely wife Patricia and together they have raised three wonderful kids, Don, Cameron and Lauren.
Stevie graduated in the first physician assistant class in Louisiana back in 1996 and practiced primarily in spine surgery most of his career. Currently he is employed by Johnson and Johnson on a team responsible for new product launches and spine surgery. He has been involved in research that has allowed him to travel the world presenting and lecturing.
Stevie was raised in Holy Catholic Church but began going through a deep conversion in his 30s. God’s call has led him to medical mission work in Guatemala and for almost 10 years traveling to Cali, Colombia once a year for a mission.
In his off time: Stevie enjoys diving deeper into scripture, cooking for the family, hanging out at the camp and spending time hunting in the woods. His greatest disappointment is the minimal amount of Spanish he speaks after all those years in Colombia. But what he lacks in vocabulary, he makes up in a unique Spanish-Cajun accent!
Stephen and his bride Kelli have been married for 24 awesome years and live in Baton Rouge, LA. They have 2 beautiful girls aged 22 and 19. Stephen has been a dentist for 26 years and Kelli a hygienist for 30 years. Together they have used dentistry and dental hygiene as a ministry in itself, treating each and every patient as a family member and having empathy and understanding.
Many patients are in need of a lot more than just dentistry and the Lord has blessed both with the ability to show compassion and concern for personal interests also. Stephen has been attending Manresa, a retreat house with silent retreats based on the spiritual exercises established by St. Ignatius of Loyola, for the last 23 years to have peace and quiet needed to connect with Our Lord.
Fun Facts: A person who is incredibly positive and thoroughly enjoys life and is Blessed, humble and grateful for each day God gives us. He decompresses himself by playing tennis and cardio workouts. Also attending adoration for peace and happiness.
Mission Inspiration: By visiting children in missions internationally, Stephen has seen what a positive environment can provide to children who come from extremely abusive environments to attend schools and receive God's graces to find peace, love, family, education, health, exercise, spirituality, and work ethic with happy smiles on all of their faces.
