Where We Might Make a Difference – The Deeper Purpose of the Dantona Family

 

By EC Intern Tierney Horton

“People think you need to just get stuff done, but people need their hearts taken care of, that is the deeper purpose of us coming. To make sure their heart is ok.” – Faith Dantona.

On their missions around the world, the Dantona family has garnered a unique perspective on what is important to bring into the lives of others.

Faith Dantona, 23, has been involved with horses since she was 12. She first started showing Appaloosas and has recently moved into the Quarter Horse world. She shows her horse Too Lazy to Be Wild, aka “Brewster,” under the guidance of Maestas Show Horses. This past May, she was the Rookie Highpoint at the AQHA L1 West Championship and has competed across the country at many major shows including the Redbud Spectacular, The Prairie Classic, and many more.

In her life outside horses, Faith is pursuing a career in the medical field. A big part of Faith’s life, as well as her family’s, however, is their involvement with missions.

According to her mom, Mary Ann, Faith has been going on missions since she was 10 years old and has probably gone on 12 missions throughout her life. Mary Ann herself has been on 30 missions. “We’ll go anywhere from locally to places outside the country. Wherever God needs us. Where we might make a difference,” Faith and her mom explain.

Faith further explains that something that they have learned on these missions is the needs that they find themselves meeting for the people they visit. These can range from physical needs like building shelter or houses, as well as meeting medical needs, to fulfilling a need of human interaction and a need to inspire hope.

“The more we meet people in the world, the more we realize that whether we live on the North Shore of Long Island or in the remote mountains of Honduras, we are all the same. We all need food, water, love, and hope. We feel strongly that God wants us to show His love by using the gifts that He has given us to help others here and in other parts of the world.”

Recently the Dantonas went on a mission to Honduras. They traveled with 30 people from their church for a four-day medical clinic – they had two days in the city and two days in the mountains of Honduras. While they were in the mountains, people would travel on foot for 2-3 hours just to seek medical attention. Often with these medical clinics, they have a pharmacy to make sure the people get vitamins because they are frequently malnourished.

According to Faith and Mary Ann, one of the most important things people need is access to clean water. “Access to clean water is something we’re used to. We’re fortunate here in the States, but that makes you want to go out and do more. We always want to leave these places better than we found them.”

Being a part of so many different places in the world, Faith has found the horse show world to be such a blessing. “How blessed we are to do this? It makes me appreciate riding and showing so much more,” she reveals.

In addition, the Dantonas have found horses to be a universal language while traveling. In Honduras, some of the local people were trying to break a horse for a pastor to ride up the mountain to tell people of the medical clinic. The people knowing Faith was involved with horses asked her to come and help. Mary Ann also adds, “We are very grateful for the horse show community for supporting these trips. Faith as a competitor and I as a “horse-show mom” are thankful.”

Something unique Faith sees in all the places she has been, including in our industry, is that “we all want to be loved and we all are looking for the same things.”

Faith and Mary Ann have truly an inspiring and deeper understanding for helping others, “It doesn’t matter if you have money or are physically able, we can all help people with a kind word or a smile.”