Concert raises funds for Honduras heart surgeries

Supporters of Project Little Hearts, a campaign sponsored by The Friends of Barnabas Foundation, held a concert at the University of Richmond Sunday to raise money for Honduran children with heart defects.

Members of local church congregations, such as Trinity United Methodist in Richmond, attended the concert to support the service work by members of their communities, Nancy Robinson, co-president of The Friends of Barnabas Foundation said.

The concert, held at the Alice Jepson Theater, featured Irish soprano Anne O'Byrne, tenor Tracey Welborn and Richmond faculty pianist Charles Staples.

A United Methodist pastor created the foundation 13 years ago, which is named after Saint Barnabas in the New Testament who identified with the poor, co-president Kip Robinson said. The organization is providing hope for the people of Honduras and the area of healthcare, he said.

"We are hoping that the folks who attend the concert will be blessed to know that the entire amount of their ticket price will go toward one of our key projects, Project Little Hearts, which is our attempt to provide pediatric care for very low income and poor Hondurans," Robinson said.

This September, a pediatric cardiac team will perform life saving interventions for 50 to 60 children, Robinson said.

Lori Cordova, medical director of The Friends of Barnabas Foundation, has been to Honduras more than 100 times, she said.

"These children suffer and live with these conditions and there is never an answer," she said. "In Honduras, we've done over 125 heart surgeries and seen over 800 children."

In the United States, the cost of pediatric heart surgery is more than $100,000, she said. Through the donation of time, supplies and equipment, we can keep the cost down to $2,500 per surgery, she said.

To work toward a goal of sustainability, the foundation is currently training a Honduran pediatric cardio surgeon, Dr. Victor Paz, she said. Paz will start working by the end of 2014 and aims to perform eight surgeries a month by his second year, she said.

"You'd like to work yourself out of a job and see Hondurans doing this," Cordova said.

Contact reporter Jessica Racioppi at jessica.racioppi@richmond.edu