Acupuncture Relief Project

✨ Meet ARP Board Member and Treasurer: Sheri Barrows ✨

When Acupuncture Relief Project was still just an idea (before the legal paperwork, before the clinics, before the first volunteers arrived) there was Sheri Barrows.

A long-time friend of ARP Founder and President Andrew Schlabach, Sheri stepped in when the project needed infrastructure: bank accounts, bylaws, nonprofit registration, financial oversight, and systems to hold a growing vision. As she described in her blog, “My ‘type A’ brain was needed to manage the mounds of information we were accumulating… that’s where I came in.”

She had visited Nepal in 2004 and “had experienced first-hand how incredible the people were and how hard village life was. Andrew’s concept for the project had a good chance of making their lives better and that has proven to be true.”

As Secretary and Treasurer, her responsibilities are extensive. She does all the monthly bookkeeping, setups volunteers on our donation platform and tracks all fundraising, files the state required documents we need for 501(c)3 status, manages all receipts and credit card payments, annually renews our access to charity-related sites like Benevity and Fidelity, wires funds to Good Health Nepal every few months so they can pay staff salaries and the expenses related to having practitioners on site. “I’m pleased that I can bring my skills and expertise to the project so that I can serve the community too even though I am not a practitioner.”

In 2016, Sheri spent several months in Nepal, witnessing firsthand the clinical impact her behind-the-scenes work supports. “The most transformative for me has been all of the time I have been able to spend in Nepal. Especially witnessing the stroke patients as they progress through treatment! Absolutely Incredible!!”

In her blog she wrote, “It wasn’t until I actually witnessed the impact of treatment that I truly understood how important these clinics are.” And later: “It is that shift to hopeful that moves me so deeply.”

What she hopes for next is clear and aligned with ARP’s long-term goals: “I hope the next decade has even more Nepali practitioners choosing to work at the Bajra clinic and other clinics in Nepal and that GHN grows to be able to manage it without ARP.”
And with candid practicality, she adds: “I am 65 years old so in a decade that makes me 75 and I don’t know how much bookkeeping I’m going to want to be doing.”

We could not do this work without Sheri’s steadiness, clarity, and care. Her contribution is foundational. This is the quiet, behind-the-scenes work that makes every treatment in Nepal possible.

We are profoundly grateful for her.

✨ Volunteer Spotlight: Gemma Beck ✨

Nov 5, 2025 – Jan 5, 2026

From a young age, Gemma felt drawn toward plants and medicine. She earned a bachelor’s degree in botany and spent many hours in medicinal gardens and greenhouses, developing an appreciation for the natural world. She also worked at an upscale vegan restaurant in Minnesota, where she saw how those plants become nourishment. Discovering Chinese herbal medicine later felt like “the path I had been searching for my entire life had opened up to me.”

She applied to this program because “serving others has always been one of the truest sources of nourishment for me.” As a new practitioner, she wanted to be useful, challenged, humbled, and transformed.

In our clinic, Gemma works closely with Clinic Director Sushila Gurung and Clinic Manager Satyamohan Dangol, whose home she describes as profoundly welcoming. She and Lead Acupuncturist Sanita Gopali work side by side each day, blending what Gemma learned in school with Sanita’s expertise in Nepali culture and rural primary care.

“Being here has accelerated my growth in ways I didn’t expect,” she says. Living with a Nepali family has softened homesickness: “To be welcomed so generously by a family who had never met me yet embraced me as their own has touched me deeply.”
Her understanding of limited resources has shifted, especially how something as simple as a road shapes healthcare access. Preventative screenings now feel essential: “A weekly blood pressure check might be the difference between life continuing normally or life being forever altered.”

One moment that stays with her is running into a patient outside the clinic and sharing a warm, joyful conversation despite barely sharing a common language. “The connection was effortless. It reminded me that care lives far beyond words; it lives in presence, sincerity, and the willingness to meet another human being exactly where they are.”

“Being here has clarified what truly matters—how I want to show up for my patients, for the people I love, and for myself.”

📸 .schlabach