*** This episode is not available for ASHA CEUs.****

The Dysphagia Outreach Project is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide meaningful assistance to individuals affected by dysphagia. Today on the show, we invite Allie Mataras, Amanda Weissberg, Allison Boyer, Jessica Lasky, Hillary Cooper, and Michelle Coffaro from the Dysphagia Outreach Project’s Board of Directors to talk about how they have come together to work on this project as volunteers and the great things they are doing for the community. The original idea came from Hillary, and she kicks things off by talking about how she was disturbed by the general lack of access to supplies experienced by patients and wanted to take the initiative to fix it. Hillary teamed up with Michelle and Jessica, and our next two guests weigh in on their contributions to getting the idea off the ground. Jessica speaks about her role in the organization in the fields of education and advocacy, and Michelle shares her responsibilities as VP of operations. Michelle runs the food bank in Cincinnati, and we hear about the incredible wealth of supplies they distribute. From there, we hear from Allie and her work as Director of Fundraising before getting to know Amanda and the contributions she has made on the social media front as Captain of Instagram for the public relations team. Wrapping up, we meet our final guest, Allison Boyer, who manages the DOP Facebook page, where she helps assemble literature reviews of the most current research in the field to be distributed freely to all who are interested. So for all this and more about an amazing project that stands testimony to the power of purpose-driven teamwork, tune in today!