Thai Burma Border Health Initiative

Recently TBBHI received approximately $750,000 from a charitable trust established by Sharon Shuteran.  We are now starting the process of deciding how we will use this money.

Until now we have had an annual budget of about $25,000.  This is obviously a big change for us.  We want to build our program but do it in a way that is sustainable.  And we want the ideas to come from the staff and other interested people living in the areas where we work.

This November three of our officers (myself, Joyanna Wendt, and Sam MacBride) will travel to Thailand to talk with our staff and try to decide how we will use this money.  We hope to return with a set of goals and a multi-year plan.

From denverpost.com:

Judge Sharon

Shuteran

Jennie Franks.

 May 11, 2012. 

There are certain things we in Telluride take for granted: the snow in winter, the thaw of the backcountry, which brings Bridal Veil to life each spring, the summer monsoons, and the glorious display of our aspens in the fall. We expect those things as we expect the alpenglow at sunset on a clear summer’s night.  And without a second thought, I always expected Sharon Shuteran to be here.

So the news of Sharon’s death is not just difficult to register. It’s incomprehensible. Along with so many people in the community, I know something in Telluride has shifted. Her absence marks a profound change that radically alters our town. With a heavy heart, I cried as I sat down and thought about Sharon Shuteran.

I can’t claim Sharon as a close confidante. Truth be known, she was closer to my daughter. In fact, she liked to think of herself as Lucy’s second mother. Then again, Sharon had many “sons” and “daughters” whom she laid similar claim to – in addition to being an amazing mother to her own Eliot and stepchildren Mat and Kyra. She cared greatly about children. I didn’t know for the longest time Sharon traveled whenever she could to far-flung places to volunteer in the aid of young people.

You too may not have known that, because Sharon was quiet about the things she did. She gave her time to causes and community without fanfare. Every festival, art opening, music and theatre event, Sharon supported us all, performers and artists alike, with her bright smile and intelligent warm eyes. She had a way about her that made a person feel slightly better as a human being than before an encounter. That incredible gift was in reality the simple matter of Sharon’s light reflecting on you for a moment.   Always unselfish, always available to give her time and her wonderful cakes, it was easy to take someone like Sharon for granted because she was always here with us.

And now she’s not.

Sharon has left an amazing legacy. By example, a legacy of love, community service, fair judgment, curiosity and caring about the world outside this box canyon. She went about doing the things that she did with quiet strength, humility and grace. And Telluride will never quite be the same without her ubiquitous presence, waving, smiling, cheering us all on.

Thank you, Sharon for choosing Telluride as your home and us as your community of friends. We know you had friends all over the world and many choices.

Thank you for being here.

Sharon Shuteran was a judge in Telluride CO for 28 years, and for 14 years she also owned and ran a restaurant there.  She obtained her JD degree from the University of Denver.

In 2010 she went as a volunteer to Sangklaburi, Thailand to work with our team.  While visiting a pre-natal clinic  that TBBHI operates near the border with Burma she experienced a mortar attack on the adjacent police checkpoint by insurgents from Burma.  Debris rained down on the roof of the clinic causing panic among the pregnant women, but the calm action of the TBBHI  team in evacuating Sharon and the women and children to safety made a great impression on her.

 Sharon was well known in Telluride for her community service and idealism.   Sadly,  she died in 2012, at age 58, of a heart attack.   She was survived by her son and her sister.