Our History
A Foundation Built on Listening, Learning, and Opportunity
Before founding Health & Hope Foundation, Dr. Loree Bolin served as Medical Director for Medical Relief International, volunteering in underserved communities around the world. Her experiences in Tanzania led to lasting friendships and a commitment to helping women and children build healthier, more secure futures.
During one healthcare outreach, a group of women came seeking help for painful arms, legs, backs, and irritated eyes. We learned that they earned approximately $1.50 a day breaking large rocks into gravel for construction. Many were widowed and supporting grandchildren.
Using her personal funds, Loree gave each of two groups of women $1,000 in start-up capital. She also provided protective glasses, masks, gloves, and safer tools to help reduce injuries from their rock-breaking work. She encouraged them to work together, develop several small businesses rather than depend on one source of income, and support one another when illness or family responsibilities interrupted their work.
She promised to return in one year.
A Lesson That Shaped Our Future
When Loree returned, the two groups had taken very different paths. One had divided and spent the funds. The other had worked together, established several small businesses, and begun building financial independence. One woman had even earned enough to build a modest home.
The lesson was lasting: financial assistance alone does not create sustainable change. Shared responsibility, business skills, cooperation, and long-term commitment make the difference.
In 2014, to celebrate her 60th birthday, Loree established Health & Hope Foundation as a U.S. nonprofit dedicated to the Tanzanian communities she had come to know.
Those original women became the foundation of HHF's Women's Business Groups. Some have since grown too old to continue their previous work, but fellow members help them find smaller income-earning opportunities so they can remain involved.
From One Opportunity to Many
What began with healthcare and a small investment in women's livelihoods has grown into interconnected programs supporting healthcare, education, and economic opportunity.
Today, HHF works alongside communities in Mwanza and the Ngorongoro highlands, supporting women's businesses, education for vulnerable children, and opportunities for Maasai girls to continue their schooling safely.
Our approach remains rooted in that first experience: listen, learn, work together, and help communities build lasting solutions.
Together, we are turning cycles of poverty into cycles of prosperity.
