How We Started
Dr. Brent graduated from dentistry at the University of Manitoba in 2000. He spent four years working at a dental office as an employee and in 2004 he left there to establish Shine Dental.
In fact, 2004 was the year that it all started to come together as, following a dental mission to Mozambique and Zambia, Brent met Wendy who had recently graduated with a Bachelor of Interior Design degree from the University of Manitoba. Wendy had just returned from a journey to New Zealand working with Habitat for Humanity.
They were married in 2005 and in the ensuing 3 years made 12 mission trips to Mexico helping the indigenous people there. In 2008 the focus was re-directed to the Dominican Republic and, working through on site missions organizations, they continued to take teams to the Puerto Plata area building houses, clinics, schools and assisting in whatever way possible.
Hear how Shine The Light started
In late 2010, with the assistance of Traci, a long time employee of Shine Dental who had elected to remain in the Dominican on her own volition, Shine the Light established their own programs and contacts. The trips became more directly productive with dental clinics and medical clinics being added on a regular basis.
The births of Brent and Wendy’s two sons, Jonah in July of 2007 and Isaiah in March of 2009, have not impeded the passion or dedication of the Wongs as the boys have accompanied them on each and every one of the 30 trips to the Dominican.
In 2013, they were able to hire, William, their first Dominican employee to oversee the day to day operations of STLi. In 2018, Miguel, an old friend from Mexico, joined the Dominican team to help William!
Brent likes to tell the story of a coastal village that was being battered by a huge storm one night.
Strong winds, driving rain and crashing waves hammered the village and the shoreline.
In the morning, when the storm had passed, a father and his young son were walking upon the beach to survey the damage and were aghast to find the beach littered with thousands of starfish.
The lad turned to his father and said, “Father, what will happen to them?” To which his father replied, “They will die, my son, as they need the water to survive.”
The young boy was torn with sorrow for a moment and then he ran over, picked up a starfish and raced to the edge of the sea, where he flung the creature as far out as he could.
He then grabbed a new starfish and repeated the procedure. He continued to do this.
His father watched and smiled indulgently, as fathers are apt to do, and said,” Son, son, look at the numbers. You cannot possibly make a difference.”
To this the son picked up another starfish and flung it into the sea and said, “Perhaps you are right, father, but I just made a difference to that one”.
This story is the basis for the Starfish being the visual totem of Shine The Light Initiative. We know that we cannot cure all of the ills in this world but we can make a difference to one person, one family, one community or one village at a time.