Project Lead: Jenni Lehnert, RN
PPF Project Since: 2025
Website: https://extremityproject.blogspot.com/
The International Extremity Project was born on the front lines of international medicine. Through years of medical work abroad, its team witnessed a profound lack of access to essential limb care and mobility, leaving children and adults in underserved communities unable to walk or move through daily life on their own. What began in the 1990s with four volunteer doctors and one nurse grew from a shared commitment to bridge that gap, bringing life-changing surgical care to the people and places that need it most.
The International Extremity Project is dedicated to providing charity surgery and dental care to underserved people in countries including Namibia, Vietnam, Angola, and Bhutan.
At its core, the project believes that mobility is freedom. By bringing volunteer doctors, nurses, and medical professionals to communities with limited access to care, and working hand in hand with local hospitals and ministries of health, the International Extremity Project restores patients’ ability to walk and live independently, giving them and their families renewed hope for the future.
After more than 25 years as a medical mission, the International Extremity Project had outgrown its previous fiscal sponsor. That small, part-time group encouraged the team to find a larger partner to manage its finances, as the project needed services they could not provide. The search led to PPF, and in January 2025, the International Extremity Project officially joined. The team chose PPF for its structural support, gaining the financial management and infrastructure needed to sustain an international medical mission.
“PPF managing our finances allows us to focus on the organization and implementation of our medical missions.”
The International Extremity Project brought its vision to life by building partnerships on the ground. Among its first steps, the team worked together with hospitals and ministries of health in Vietnam alongside a U.S. Veteran, laying the foundation for its surgical missions abroad. Among its first steps, the team worked together with hospitals and ministries of health in Vietnam alongside a U.S. Veteran, laying the foundation for its surgical missions abroad. Today, the project’s missions serve communities in Namibia, Vietnam, Angola, and Bhutan. Early on, one of the greatest challenges was learning other countries’ cultures and practices in medicine. By collaborating closely with local partners and adapting to each community’s approach to care, the team built the trust and relationships that have sustained its missions for more than two decades.
What started with just four volunteer doctors and one nurse has grown into a volunteer pool of well over fifty people!
The most meaningful outcome of the project’s work is watching children and adults be able to walk on their own. In its early days in the 1990s, team members mortgaged their own houses to fund missions. Today, the International Extremity Project is supported by a solid group of donors who see the value of giving back through its work, allowing the team to keep bringing surgery and care to underserved communities around the world.
As the project’s donor base has grown, PPF has become a valuable partner in that growth. By managing the project’s finances, PPF frees the team to focus on what they do best: organizing and implementing medical missions. Most valuable of all, PPF has helped the International Extremity Project grow its donations, strengthening its ability to reach more patients in need.
“Our experience so far has been great.”
“It’s an act of compassion, many hours of volunteering and hard work. What you get back is an overwhelming sense of purpose. Only a few will sign up for such an endeavor."
Join the growing community of mission-driven projects that trust PPF to handle the administrative details while they focus on making an impact.
