During this season of giving, we reached out to Rick Reece—a Maple City native and member of Coach Don Miller’s 1977 Glen Lake state basketball championship team—who nearly 20 years ago founded Village Focus International, which empowers communities in Laos. Reece lives in Laos with his Lao wife Nalin (whom he married in 2001 at a ceremony at Old Settlers Park in Burdickville). They have two children, Alan and Annabella.
Sarah Wigton Dominguez’s tropical dream looks a bit different, however. The 26-year-old, who recently earned double master’s degrees in social work and public health at the University of Michigan, pictures a lush island –— say, Hispaniola, home to the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic — that includes clean water, blooming mothers with healthy babies, and thriving communities empowered to make educated choices about their daily lives.