Westmont Magazine Heartbreaking Healings

Kurt ‘76 and Kristi Stranlund Fredrickson ‘75 and their two teenage children opened their Simi Valley, California, home to a three-year-old Honduran boy last December as part of the Healing the Children program. The non-profit organization helps children obtain life-saving medical treatment not available in their home countries. They tell foster families, “We bring the kids in, fix their hearts, and then break yours.”

Foster parents to little Dennis Valle Rivera for about a month, the Fredricksons recall Dennis’s blue lips and cold hands, evidences of the abnormalities in his heart. The successful surgery performed on January 2 gave Dennis the chance to live a long and normal life, and the Fredricksons are happy to have played a part in giving it to him. They continue to participate in the Healing the Children program, despite the difficult goodbyes when the children return home.