An aspiring musician with no college education nor medical experience, Todd Shea seems to be an unlikely candidate as an aid worker. But the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. forged Shea’s calling to become a disaster relief worker.
“Anybody motivated to make a difference can make a difference,” Shea, who has been involved in disaster relief efforts in Sri Lanka, New Orleans and Pakistan, told students at the Community College of Aurora during a daylong series of lectures on Oct. 25.
“The reason I’m good at disaster relief is that my life has been a disaster,” added Shea, who overcame addiction to crack cocaine and whose mother died from an accidental Valium overdose.
After the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, Shea relocated there and is now the chief operating officer of SHINE Humanity, a nonprofit that provides health services and basic medical treatments to residents of small and remote Pakistani villages.
“It’s a beautiful place to live,” Shea was quoted by Aurora Sentinel as saying. “I realized that these people were going to need help for a long time to come.”
