Dr. Joe Pecoraro - Hearts Afire, Inc.
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It began with three people who believed that compassion was meant to become action.
Dr. Joe Pecoraro. Dr. Vilma Vega. Rhonda Pecoraro.
Three different lives. Three different gifts. One shared calling—to go where the need was great, to serve people others might never see, and to become the hands and feet of Jesus wherever God opened a door.
For Dr. Joe Pecoraro, a vascular and general surgeon, that calling became unmistakable on his first mission trip. He had spent his career using his hands to heal, but thousands of miles from home, looking into the eyes of people living with seemingly impossible circumstances, he discovered something medicine alone could never provide: hope. Today, he serves as President, CEO, and Chairman of Hearts Afire, continuing to lead teams into places where physical and spiritual needs intersect.
For Dr. Vilma Vega, the calling began much earlier. As a child, she dreamed of becoming a medical missionary. She would eventually become a board-certified Infectious Disease and HIV specialist, but the dream never left her. Through medicine, ministry, leadership, and years of mission service, Dr. Vega—President Emeritus of Hearts Afire—has spent her life pursuing that childhood vision: to follow the example of Christ and bring healing and hope to people in need.
And alongside them is Rhonda Pecoraro, an artist and photographer who discovered that sometimes the most powerful way to tell a story is simply to help the world see what she sees. Through her camera, her creativity, and her heart for people, Rhonda has captured moments that numbers alone can never explain—the joy of receiving a Bible, the relief of clean water flowing for the first time, the embrace between people from different worlds who discover they are not so different after all.
Together, they co-founded Hearts Afire with a belief that remains at the center of everything they do:
God can take what is already in our hands and use it to change someone else's world.
Over the years, that belief has crossed oceans and reached communities throughout the developing world. It has become clean water where there was none. Medical care where it was desperately needed. Bibles placed into waiting hands. Food for hungry families. Support for pastors and churches. Sustainable agriculture and opportunities for communities to build a better future. And in Kenya, it has helped give rise to Milimani Mission Hospital—a place where healing, dignity, compassion, and faith come together every day.
But Hearts Afire has never simply been about what can be given.
It is about what can be changed.
A life. A family. A village. And sometimes, a generation.
Because when one person receives an opportunity, a community can begin to flourish. When a child sees compassion modeled, generosity can become part of the next generation. And when people separated by oceans, cultures, and circumstances meet one another in love, both sides discover that giving has the power to transform the giver as much as the one who receives.
What began with three people saying yes has grown into thousands of stories of healing, hope, faith, and transformation.
And after two decades, the story of Hearts Afire is still being written.
One person. One community. One act of faith at a time.
IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:
- That extraordinary impact can begin when ordinary people decide to use what they have to serve others.
- How small acts of generosity, repeated over years, compound into tens of thousands of changed lives.
- Why sustainable projects like clean water, agriculture, and healthcare create generational change far beyond temporary relief.
- That giving teaches your children and grandchildren what you value, passing generosity to the next generation.
- How long-term relationships with local leaders create deeper change than transactional charity ever can.
- Why a hand up through education and economic opportunity can be more powerful than a handout.
- That caring for the whole person means addressing physical, spiritual, educational, and economic needs together.
- How going on mission changes the giver’s perspective on gratitude, abundance, poverty, and faith.
- Why dignity matters when serving people experiencing poverty, seeing them as equal partners not projects.
- That faith becomes powerful when it moves people to action like clean water, medicine, food, and hope.
about the show
Impact Makers is a business documentary television series featuring entrepreneurs, operators, business leaders, innovators, and changemakers who are building real solutions in the world.
Each episode takes viewers inside the story behind the impact, showing what was built, why it matters, and how it works in real life. Guests share the decisions, risks, setbacks, systems, and turning points that shaped their work and helped them create measurable change.
The series highlights leaders across business, technology, education, health, community development, social enterprise, and other industries where meaningful work is being done.
Impact Makers focuses on people who are putting ideas into action and creating results that influence customers, communities, industries, and lives.
For featured guests, the series provides a platform to share their story, build authority, and give audiences a deeper look at the mission, systems, and leadership behind their impact.
