We look forward to hearing from Heather Ruiz who in 2012 spent fourteen months in rural Northwest Africa investigating and designing a sustainable service model for young people.

Heather’s efforts helped create the first community co-op school in Mauritania, and she used music and creative writing classes in two other schools as a successful platform to address the social caste system mentality. In 2017 she was invited to present a TEDx talk on the topic. Heather is an inspirational example of the new generation of volunteers and mission workers. She will share her experiences in Africa and describe how she was able to create a partnership model to help a developing country.

Heather currently works at Adventist Health Glendale’s Foundation as a philanthropy resident.