Description

Episode theme: Giving up negativity for Lent • Compassion in practice • Mending Kids and “faith as action”

Dorothy and Jason kick off with a Lent challenge from Pope Leo that isn’t about giving up chocolate or wine. It’s about giving up negativity, the hostile words, the sharp comments, the reflexive complaining that quietly poisons our days. Dorothy brings in a study that links complaining to stress (hello, cortisol), aging, and even weight gain, and the two decide they’re not waiting for Ash Wednesday to start. They’re pregaming Lent, practice starts now.

From there, the conversation widens to compassion on a larger scale: the monks who walked from Texas to Washington, D.C., and the reminder that peace in the world starts with loving-kindness in a single person. Jason takes a fun “woo-woo” sidebar detour into the significance of the number 108 in Buddhism and how the monks’ 108-day journey might be more meaningful than it looks.

Then the heart of the episode: Mending Kids the tiny-but-mighty organization Dorothy has supported for nearly two decades. Dorothy shares how it began (a “coffee invitation” that changed everything), how the model evolved from bringing children to the U.S. for surgery to sending surgical teams around the world, and why the organization commits to multi-year missions that train local doctors so communities can sustain care long after the team leaves.

Dorothy shares unforgettable stories: a boy from Ethiopia who arrived with massive tumors and later grew into a thriving adult working at the very hospital that saved him; the remote Panama mission where the team unexpectedly “mended” a blind baby calf; and Dorothy’s own journey as a host mom to a child who lived with her family for four months then disappeared from her life for years, only to reconnect later through Facebook with a new family of her own.

Dorothy introduces Isabelle Fox, Executive Director of Mending Kids, an accomplished storyteller with a Hollywood background (yes, including a Patrick Dempsey moment), who found her purpose through a single luncheon and one brave “yes.” Isabelle shares what missions are really like (economy flights, questionable food, life-changing impact), why “no” doesn’t define her (“no just redirects me”), and how her spirituality deepened through witnessing survival, grief, and hope across cultures and faiths.

The episode closes with a call to action: support the work, show up, volunteer and take Lent’s challenge seriously by choosing words that heal instead of harm.

In This Episode

• Pope Leo’s Lent invitation: give up negativity
• The idea that complaining may spike stress and age us
• Monks walking to Washington, D.C., and the practice of compassion
• Jason’s deep dive into 108 (and why it matters)
• Dorothy’s origin story with Mending Kids
• How Mending Kids works: training local doctors, sustainable missions
• Powerful mission stories (Ethiopia, Panama, hosting a child at home)
• Isabelle Fox’s turning point: one event, one bid, one “yes”

About Mending Kids (as discussed)

Mending Kids organizes medical missions around the world by pairing surgical teams with local partners providing surgeries, supplies, and training so communities can keep treating children long-term. 

Events & Ways to Help

• Mending Kids Fundraiser: March 21 at the Skirball Center
• Learn more, attend, or volunteer: mendingkids.org
• Annual hike (5 miles) to honor the distances many families walk for medical care

Call to Action

If you enjoyed this episode, rate and review the show, share it with a friend, and join the conversation on Instagram. And if you’ve got your own “faith in action” story, send it in.