Published: October 22, 2009 06:45 pm      

OC students walk to raise $115,000

EDMOND — More than 650 Oklahoma Christian University students and friends raised $115,000 with their Walk for Honduras Oct. 4 at the Oklahoma Christian Forum.

“This is the fourth year we have sponsored the Walk for Honduras and the turnout was a record,” said Lindy Adams, a fundraiser with Mission Predisan, a medical mission in Catacamas, Honduras.

OC students and Predisan friends from Oklahoma City and Edmond walked together to raise money to support Dr. Lynn McMillon’s addiction treatment work.

More than 50 sponsors including individuals and businesses in Oklahoma City and Edmond backed the walkers and a Honduran lunch was served prior to the walk.

“It is critical to Predisan to not cut programs this year,” Adams said.

She said 2009 has been a very difficult year for Predisan, as Honduras continues to experience political unrest and economic hardship. This situation escalated Sept. 28 when the de facto government suspended key civil rights, Adams said.

The Walk chairman was OC graduate Fide Madrid, daughter of one of Predisan’s founders, Dr. Amanda Madrid.

Many local doctors and medical professionals from the Edmond area have traveled to eastern Honduras to work, Adams said.

“More than 100 volunteers to Predisan had to cancel their trips this year because of the political crisis. The New Hope Church of Christ in Edmond had to evacuate its group from Honduras in July and bring the group home early,” Adams said.

McMillon, professor of Bible, Family Relations and Counseling at OC, and his wife, Joy, were the honorary co-chairs of the walk.

Lynn McMillon is active in addiction treatment efforts and has been in private practice for 36 years. He has made two trips to Predisan to work with staff and patients at Cerepa, Predisan’s in-patient addiction treatment center.

“Cerepa is a medical mission work that I have known about for a number of years,” he said.

Cerepa, a drug and rehabilitation center, is 21 years old. A medical doctor, two psychologists and a number of others make up the treatment team, and they are able to treat a patient population ranging from 22 to the upper 20s at any one time.

“Dr. Ahmanda Madrid came to Oklahoma as a visiting missionary and she taught here for two years,” McMillon said. “As a result of getting to know her better she invited me to come and do some training for the staff at the drug and treatment center at the medical center in Catacomis and for a number of outpost clinics in the mountains for the really poor people.”

There are a number of professions that require ongoing professional education, McMillon said, and the type of training he does is technical. He has been there twice.

His first trip was in May of 2008 and his second trip was in November of 2008.

“I have been invited to come back again, but I am waiting for the political situation to stabilize,” he said.

The president of the Predisan USA board is Eric Thornhill, of Edmond, and other board members from the Oklahoma City area include Linda and Eric King and Ron Maxwell of Edmond and Dr. Timothy Hill from Oklahoma City.

For more information about Predisan go to www.predisan.org.