Oak Brook-based volunteer group helping in the Honduras

One sip of her morning coffee reminds Meredith Thomas of how fortunate she is.

Thomas bought her coffee at an orphanage on a volunteer medical trip to Honduras, where residents were deeply grateful to get basic necessities.

"A toothbrush made them happy," she said. "A bar of soap was exciting."

Thomas went as part of a group of 20 volunteers from Oak Brook-based AthletiCo physical and occupational therapy, through the nonprofit student-led aid group Global Brigades.

Their work on their weeklong trip in April didn't involve therapy, but much more basic medical and dental exams and dispensing medicine.

Each day, the group would bus an hour or two to a remote village in the mountains, where they would set up shop at a school or other building. Doctors examined 1,500 patients in four days, and wrote prescriptions, which the volunteers would help fill from suitcases full of medications on tabletops.

Much of the medicine most in demand was nonprescription. It was for mothers desperately seeking cough medicine, vitamins and pain relievers for their children.

Thomas, a physical therapist who has a 20-month-old daughter at home with her husband in Crystal Lake, was struck by how little these poor people had.

"If my daughter was in pain or had a fever, and I didn't have any medication for her, that would be very difficult," she said. "These people deal with that all the time."

A co-worker of Thomas who had volunteered with Global Brigades as a student got the company involved in the project. Though Thomas speaks very little Spanish, others on the trip were able to translate when necessary

To support the trip, AthletiCo employees raised $6,000 toward supplies and the cost of the trip, and the company collected donated medications, toiletries and eyeglasses.

"We would just get mobbed with people who wanted glasses," Thomas said. "They would try different ones on until they could see. Then their faces would just light up."

Because the water there contains parasites, (patients were given anti-parasite medicine), many of the locals avoid it by drinking a sugary soda, which rots their teeth.

One 16-year-old girl walked six hours to get 10 aching teeth pulled, but the clinic dentist could only pull three at a time due to concerns about shock.

The volunteers also took a day to visit two orphanages, where Thomas played with a 2-year-old girl, Tatiana, who reminded Thomas of her own daughter.

One other day, Thomas helped build a latrine, a concrete floor with a stove, and a pila or basin to collect rainwater. Local family members helped with the work and contributed some of what little money they had.

"It was very eye-opening, a very humbling experience" Thomas said. "I am grateful for what I have, but we're given a lot, and a lot is expected, so we should in turn give to others. It's something to make someone's day by giving them such basic things we have such easy access to."