The incomparable Drew and Ellie Holcomb provided the evening’s entertainment and greatly blessed everyone with their incredible voices. It was so lovely to hear their stories and share themselves in such a personal way with our Gala attendees. So warm and engaging, it was the best evening EVER!

Thank you to everyone in the room who made this evening so special, celebrating our 25th year of humanitarian service. We look forward to another 25h years of providing hope, help, and healing to the global communities in which we serve!

Dr. Craig Hobar and Gala Co-Chair Ray Nixon

As only Dr. Craig Hobar can, he shared his heart and legacy of love that began with his first mission trip in the Dominican Republic in 1991. Always humble, Dr. Hobar acknowledged all who have helped to make LEAP a better organization and are helping grow LEAP’s legacy by giving God another instrument to work through. While there may have been a lot of reasons to quit over the past 25 years, Dr. Hobar shared that there remains an unstoppable commitment to restore where there is brokenness — without concern for the limitations of time, distance, or wealth. While more work is to be done, Dr. Hobar appreciated the positive impact LEAP has had on our global family.

L to R: Ann Higginbottom, Dr. Craig Hobar, Robin Hobar, Landmark recipient Li Ying, and her mother, Mrs. Jin

Ann Higginbottom, Executive Director of Kershaw’s Challenge, shared with the 400 Gala attendees that the humanitarian award given to Robin and Craig Hobar was a gift by her family members, Ellen and Clayton Kershaw. The Kershaws wanted to honor the Hobars and their outstanding commitment to helping children receive free surgical care in the most remote regions of the world by funding an Emergency Room at our host hospital in Haiti, which also included a new Operating Room, Recovery Room, and 2,500 square foot new Outpatient Clinic.

Originally, all had anticipated this award as a future project; however, after several months of planning, our very hard-working construction team, led by longtime LEAP supporters Janet and Pat Ortega, flew to Haiti in September and worked tirelessly to complete the construction portion of the project just in time for the Gala. By the time the team travels in early November, the project will be fully completed!

Our program included a moving video about beloved Landmark recipient Li Ying from China, who has been a LEAP patient for over ten years. Li Ying first came to the US in 2005, receiving two highly complex surgeries. Li Ying’s life was forever changed, and she has since returned for additional medical and surgical care. Li Ying has become family, especially to Robin and Craig Hobar, who she warmly refers to as “her grandparents”. There was no one more special than Li Ying to help present the Hobars with such an incredible award for all of their humanitarian efforts in the global community over the past 25 years.

L to R: Li Ying’s mother Mrs. Jin, LEAP Director of Missions Kristin McCool, LEAP Missions Coordinator Donna Matthews, and Li Ying

We truly celebrated our 25th milestone year last night with 400 guests at the beautiful Dallas Country Club. The evening’s celebration began with lovely music by the Dallas String Quartet and was followed by a very warm welcome from Co-Chair Ray Nixon, who generously gave his time and heart to this special event for which planning first began almost a year ago. Rev. Robby Higginbottom of Park Cities Presbyterian Church blessed the evening with a very special prayer.

L to R: Dr. Jeffrey Cone, Rev. Robby Higginbottom, Ray Nixon, Ann Higginbottom, and Dr. Eric Payne

The evening’s program began with LEAP leader Dr. Jeffrey Cone, who spoke about LEAP and his first encounter with Dr. Craig Hobar. He shared why his service as team leader in Haiti has been particularly meaningful with light-hearted stories included! For those of you who have been fortunate to work with Jeffrey in the mission field, you know him to be a great leader, mentor, and humanitarian. It was a beautiful start to the evening’s program.