What is Love Has No Color?

In 1992, Dr. Caroline rode her bicycle from Seattle to New York. On the way, she pitched her tent for the night behind a local high school in Poplar, Montana.

Unaware that she was sleeping on the soil of a Native American reservation called Fort Peck, Dr. Caroline never expected returning to a community that was a mere windswept speck in Big Sky country. There wasn’t a hint that nearly 13-years later, under completely different circumstances as a doctor of chiropractic, she would be traveling annually to the reservation as one of the original Love Has No Color volunteers.

Started in 2005 by chiropractors Dr. Kevin Pallis and Dr. Ed Plentz, Love Has No Color is a humanitarian program that continues to bring love, healing and self-esteem to the Native American of the very same reservation where Dr. Caroline camped. Instead of merely serving our hometown chiropractic patients, LHNC reaches out to support the indigenous people of this country who live in Third World conditions suffering silently.

Through events such as Boot Camp and Christmas on the Reservation, LHNC is ultimately about ending the extreme despair experienced by those merely surviving on Native American reservations across the United States. It’s an effort by chiropractors of the New Renaissance team to reach out into other communities than our own to make a difference.

Using chiropractic and holistic care, the supporters of LHNC are shifting a paradigm of plight to one centered on health, inspiration, productivity, and community.

LHNC is a fully federal tax recognized 501(c)(3) movement that has no paid staff or consultants. The program is made possible by chiropractors associated with The New Renaissance coaching program, family members, and patients of their respective chiropractic clinics.

At its core is a common thread that unites all of us: do the right thing, especially for people who are oppressed.

It embodies a sense of honor – a humanitarian call to share out of our own abundance.

The typical response by our group of chiropractors and their practice members is, “how can I get involved?” One would be hard pressed to find a family at Balance Atlanta who would not want to help children in dire need of physical, emotional, social, and economic help.

While many patients make generous financial contributions through the LHNC CrowdRise page, others year after year donate new gifts for the children to enjoy at Kids Day and Christmas on the Reservation. It is not uncommon for practice members of Balance Atlanta to join Dr. Caroline on her many trips to Fort Peck. Participating in LHNC is a transformative experience.

Boot Camp is the annual summer trek to the Fort Peck reservation in Montana.

Our group of chiropractors, family members and patients provide community service and organize over the top events benefitting the children of the reservation who life in Wolf Point, Frasier and Poplar.

With each year successive year, the impact we are making is growing deeper. Children who initially met us at age four many years ago are now teenagers. They have learned to trust the continual compassion our group demonstrates with open hands and hearts.

The dramatic decrease in teen pregnancies, suicide and drug abuse parallels our 10+ years of LHNC being a continual presence on the reservation. As documented research shows, this upswing in health is not a coincidence.

In 2016, Boot Camp will run for three days beginning with community service and distributing food to those in need.

The highlight of day two of Boot Camp is the now famous Fun Day. With over 1,000 kids attending, this event includes crafts, face painting, races, and contests; activities like pony rides and dunk tanks; chiropractic and naturopathic treatments; CrossFit-inspired challenges; handing out backpacks stuffed with school supplies; sharing donated items such as clothing and toiletries; a cookout, and much more. The grand finale of Fun Day is a concert by the rock band, Don’t Quit Your Day Job – a group of talented chiropractors and their musically-inclined family members. On the third day, LHNC members will provide more community service including chiropractic adjustments, repairing buildings, refurbishing an abandoned theater, building a skate park, and challenging local teens to pickup games on a new basketball court donated by LHNC.

Christmas on the Reservation is our holiday program designed to bring seasonal hope and joy to the children of Fort Peck and Spirit Lake Reservations. 

Beginning in October, people all over the country in many different professions begin a gift drive to collect new and needed items for the kids. 

Gifts are then shipped out to Montana at the end of November for our gift distribution ceremonies.  We travel to the many schools on the reservation to brighten the holidays for each and every child.  In a community where young ones most often go without regular meals and warm clothing, we make sure that every child receives at least one gift – if not more.

It is likely the only time in the year when they will get any present at all. Most of these kids do not receive gifts at holidays, nor do they experience the same childhood happiness that are own kids take for granted. In an environment ravaged by the effects of alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, suicide (mostly by children or young teens), it is not difficult to understand why the outlook on life is colored by despair.

Being handed a new doll or a cool pair of sneakers by someone who shows kindness may spark a child’s desire to seek hope and live rather than die senselessly. Humanitarian generosity is foundation of our amazing chiropractic supporters.

People from North America go all over the world for missions trips, relief work, and to provide aid to those far less fortunate. However, you don’t need to travel far to see that third world conditions exist right in the United States. When asked if they wanted a toy or a loaf of bread as a gift, the children on the Fort Peck Reservation in Poplar, MT chose bread. That’s why, this summer, we are trying to get at least a hundred tons of high quality, non-perishable food to be distributed to the kids and families at Fort Peck and beyond. Won’t you help us bring health and hope to a people who have none? If you’d like to donate to Love Has No Color, please visit our Crowd Rise page. All donations are tax-deductible. Thank you for your generosity.

Current Project: Bringing Chiropractic to Fort Peck

Since the creation of LHNC, it has been the dream of founders Dr. Kevin Pallis and Dr. Ed Plentz to provide chiropractic care to all families living on the Fort Peck reservation. Starting in February, a small team of chiropractors will be going Poplar, MT to staff the chiropractic clinic that was completed several years ago. This is another positive step in bringing health to the kids at Fort Peck and breaking down the walls of poor health. These trips will be taking place multiple times a year and volunteers from all walks of life are welcome to join us.

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