La Cañada couple reflects on 25 years of charity as they prepare for one last journey
It was 1989 when La Cañada residents Jerold and Dorothy Beeve first stepped foot on the sandy shores of Fiji, where they’d booked the second leg of a second honeymoon trip at the chic Turtle Island Resort.
The Glendale ophthalmologist and his registered nurse wife were looking to relax and enjoy their 25th wedding anniversary in the lush accommodations afforded by their hotel, with occasional trips to nearby islands.
When they saw the locals working on or near the resort, and noticed many were living in poverty and suffering from eye problems and serious vision impairment, the Beeves felt compelled to help.
“We thought we’ve got to do something for these great, wonderful people,” Jerold Beeve recalled. “We know they need help, so we’ve got to do it.”
They started the Beeve Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is bringing badly needed medical supplies and vision care to people living on the island. And from that one honeymoon visit, the lives of tens of thousands of Fijians have been changed for the better.
Since 1991, the foundation and its medical team has aided about 3% of the country’s entire population, offering 28,603 eye exams, 27,714 pairs of eyeglasses, 1,756 cataract extractions with lens implants, 55 corneal transplants and 1,005 other procedures.
The couple was recently at their La Cañada home preparing for their final philanthropic medical trip to Fiji. As the years have worn on, the Beeves have developed a transition plan they hope will allow the foundation’s commitment to continue uninterrupted.
Talks with people from the Eye Institute at Loma Linda University, where Jerold Beeve and ophthalmologist son Scott earned their degrees, have been promising, according to Dorothy Beeve. Both say the work is important and must be continued.
And Fijians agree. In February, the Beeves took a special trip to the South Pacific island, where President George Konrote presented them as Honorary Officers of the Order of Fiji, a designation awarded non-Fijians for distinguished service of a high degree to the country and its citizens.
“He said, ‘Thank you for the years you have given to our people,’ ” Dorothy Beeve said of the ceremony.
The couple have come a long way from the early years when, without a partnering hospital, they asked permission to perform operations in their hotel room. A dining room table covered by padding served as an operating table, and a small bendable lamp provided overhead light.
The foundation’s first cataract surgeries were performed inside a thatched wood and straw hut built by Turtle Island owner Richard Evanson for that purpose.
“He saw what was happening — people being led into our rooms and walking out afterward with great big smiles on their faces,” said Jerold Beeve, who wrote a book published in 2012 under the title “Praying With My Eyes Wide Open,” about the couple’s life work.
Today, a team of doctors and staff members work in conjunction with Fiji’s Nadi Hospital to perform operations and procedures, while pre-screenings are conducted at nearby Lautoka Hospital. Jerold and Dorothy Beeve will be taking supplies on their last 5,500-mile work trip, and hope to start training their replacements.
But talk of transition is bittersweet — it marks a new beginning for the Beeve Foundation’s mission but also an ending of something the couple admits has been close to their hearts for so long.
“It’s not a good feeling,” Jerold Beeve said of the prospect of stepping back from a passion and a calling. “You’re making people happy, but your body doesn’t last forever.”
“It’s very, very emotional,” Dorothy Beeve agreed. “Because we’ve made some wonderful friends. This is a big part of our lives.”
FYI: For more on the Beeve Foundation, and the work of Dorothy and Jerold Beeve, visit fiji4sight.org.
Twitter: @SaraCardine
