History
International Samaritan was founded in 1995 by Jesuit priest Father Don Vettese. In the summer of 1994, one of the presidents of St. John's Jesuit High School and Academy took several students from the high school to Guatemala City, Guatemala. While driving, their van came upon a car accident and was detoured. Traffic brought the van to a halt at the 750-acre city dump. At the time of their visit, the Guatemala City Dump allowed children to work in the dump collecting recyclables alongside adults. The students could not comprehend what they were seeing and asked Fr. Vettese if there was anything that could be done. Upon returning to Toledo, Ohio, Fr. Vettese gathered funds and started International Samaritan.
On July 1, 2006, International Samaritan opened its new headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was previously headquartered at St. John's Jesuit High School and Academy where its founder served as president until 2007. After the close of the 2007 school year, Fr. Vettese left the school in order to serve full-time as president of IS.
IS has conducted numerous medical missions to the developing world since 1995. Medical missions have included doctors, pediatricians, dentists, oral surgeons, nurses, EMTs, pharmacists, medical professionals, and countless volunteers. The medical brigades work directly with populations living next to garbage dump communities, serving the poor who often have no other access to health care.
IS also has a decade of experience organizing service learning immersion trips for high school students, college students, churches, and other groups.
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