Many of you know Riley Fuller has been leading Humanity and Hope since the beginning but what you may not know is that there have been other Fuller family members just as involved! His dad, Denny has been serving H&H for over 13 years and has been leading our Honduran operations team since 2015. Jordan Fuller, Riley’s brother has also been actively involved as a trip leader, board Chairman & Secretary, t-shirt manager, grant team leader, and legal counsel.
As of April 1, Denny will be retiring to spend more time with his wife, Kim, and their grandchildren and Jordan will be coming on full-time as H&H Co-President and Honduran Team Lead. We’ve asked the Fuller men to answer a few questions about their time working with their dad and brothers to leave this world a better place.
What has been your favorite part of working together and building a legacy as a family?
DENNY: “I actually have never thought of it in terms of a legacy. I think I am being very honest when I say that for me, my time with H&H has always been about doing what God asks me to do, all day, and every day. The results as seen by others has always been up to God. My favorite times have been working together with our entire family (all 8 of us) to come-up with ideas to solve to a problem in Honduras. Also, Jordan, Riley, and I met in Dallas in August of 2018 where I gave a little seminar on how to survive working together. We each shared our thoughts on how to separate their responsibilities. And then, we actually wrote the plan for my departure. It was a very meaningful time.”
RILEY: “I believe that God gave us this dream so that we could tangibly help communities of people lift each other out of physical and spiritual poverty. We’ve been able to help lead this dream together, but we’ve also benefited ourselves. I’ve seen each of us grow so much deeper in our faith (I wasn’t even a follower of Jesus when we started!), and we’ve grown so much closer as Father and Sons too. So in short, the purpose has been deep, compelling, and inspiring. Doing it as a family has helped build stronger, better relationships with each other than I ever imagined possible. I always thought our family legacy would be selling hot cereal for Little Crow Foods…God had much more beautiful plans. I hope to share this legacy with my own sons now.”
JORDAN: “Unity. To have the opportunity to live out my calling of helping end poverty in the communities we work in, is incredible. However, when the people you are serving alongside are the people you love the most in the world, we feel extremely united as a family. We are all working towards the same goal. I truly could not ask for anything more.”
What has been your favorite memory of being together in Honduras?
DENNY: “Of course, the three of us recently returned from my "good bye" tour of our communities. I will never forget basking in the love I received from each of one, while out of the corner of my eye, seeing Riley and Jordan in serious conversation, working together to keep things moving forward.”
RILEY: “There are soooooo many good memories it’s impossible to pick just one. But since I have to pick one, my favorite memory of us together in Honduras is the last trip we took together in March 2019. Seeing the communities we serve and H&H staff honor my Dad with full hearts will be a memory I cherish forever…and honestly it made me cry a few times. At the same time, the same people were excited and confident about my brother coming on to take his role and it was special to see the way that they see a bright future with him leading too. Celebrating the past half decade while confidently looking toward the future was an amazing thing to share with my family.”
JORDAN: “While on a trip in 2007 Riley was saying that the horrible poverty we were witnessing was unacceptable, and that we needed to do something about it. In that moment, H&H was coming into existence in his heart and mind, and that day changed the course of my life as well.”
What are you most excited for and/or your hope for the future of H&H?
DENNY: “For me, I am looking forward to some quiet. Quiet is almost impossible because the needs of the 500 people we serve are continually changing and many times they are a crisis. Regarding the future of H&H, I am very much looking forward to H&H being able to better serve through the combined leadership of both Riley and Jordan. They are both extremely talented and dedicated servants. The people we serve, and everyone else will quickly see and enjoy the benefit of their combined leadership. The future is so bright!!”
RILEY: “I’m most excited for the day when Honduras isn’t considered a “developing country”, but a country that helps others’ develop. Because of all the love we pour into each other, the hard work we do for each other, and the humility with which we serve each other, an explosion of generosity will take off throughout Honduras the likes of which the world has never seen before. It’s a dream, but that gets me excited.”
JORDAN: “H&H has played a role in breaking the chains of physical, emotional, and spiritual poverty for so many. I know that the future will include a lot more of those chains breaking. That will happen as we go deeper into the three villages we serve and when we have the resources to expand into more villages. I am also excited to interact with the thriving community H&H has as well. From the full-time team, to the H&H board, to our INCREDIBLE volunteers, H&H has a stacked team, and I would put our team up against anybody's. I am definitely #blessed to be a part of it.”
We are beyond grateful for the work Denny has done and the sacrifices he’s made for H&H over the years and we are hopeful and excited for Jordan to be following his dad’s lead.