Rep's example sends IBD CEO on a mission

Last September, Cetera Financial Group chief executive Valerie Brown traveled across the country to salute the philanthropic work of an adviser from one of the independent broker-dealer network's affiliate firms by attending the Community Leadership Awards in New York. The adviser, R. Stephen Werner, was one of 15 from around the country who were recognized that night for volunteer work. Mr. Werner didn't win the top award, but his charity, Health Education Africa Resource Team, scored a different victory. Ms. Brown was so moved by the impact that the organization has on African women and children suffering from AIDS that she and her family recently traveled to Kenya themselves to further the HEART mission. During a 12-day trip through several cities in Kenya, Ms. Brown, her husband and their two adult sons helped to build a house for a woman who had been living in a two-room mud hut with her six children. They also visited schools and hospitals where they donated money and supplies. “None of us recognize the resilience of the human spirit until you listen to what these women have overcome,” she said. “The trip impacted my heart and soul, and those of my husband and sons.” HEART provides medical care, sanitary personal supplies and training to women with AIDS who live in Kenya, a country where those who have the disease often are shunned and rejected by the community. Ms. Brown heard stories of infected women being beaten by boyfriends and nearly killed by their own fathers. HEART teaches the women how to sew uniforms and mosquito nets, and how to make candles and other products that allow them to support themselves and their children. “Thanks to HEART's programs, these women are lifting themselves up, and their kids are going to school,” Ms. Brown said after returning from last month's trip. “The program has become so successful that women from neighboring African countries are trying to get into the centers.” Mr. Werner, an adviser at Exemplar Financial Network, has raised about $75,000 for HEART since learning about it during a 2006 trip to introduce his adopted son to his biological father, who is Kenyan. [email protected] Twitter: @skinnerliz