Be a Volunteer

The typical S.M.A.R.T. trip begins early on a Thursday morning in the airport nearest you. You fly to Houston and meet with other team members at the Houston Airport. The team loads up and flies on Continental Airlines to the final destination in Central America. On the ground by noon, we hurry through Aduanas (customs) and hop on a bus to the hospital. Depending on where the team will be working this may be a thirty-minute bus ride, an hour bus ride or a two & one-half hour ride through beautiful Central America. When we pull up to the hospital, lines of potential patients are already waiting. We pile off the bus and hit the ground running. We work, what seems to be twenty-four hours a day, Thursday through Saturday, eat between patients and hardly have time to breath until Sunday when we pack everything into the bus and head out for an afternoon of shopping. Monday morning we catch a plane and you are back in your own bed Monday night. We are gone Thursday-Monday and upon their return, the team states, they have had the experience of a lifetime. More than half of the volunteers on most trips are repeat team members.

Potential volunteers are encouraged to contact us by telephone at 913-814-3700 or by e-mail at

teresa.searcy@smartteams.org