Patrick Lucchese is the son of a cardiac surgeon, so it’s no surprise he has a good heart. As the founder and director of a thriving Brazilian firm called Urban Advisors, he’s spent his career helping small businesses develop better strategies that will make them stronger and more successful over the long haul.
His favorite strategy: Find places to improve—no matter how tiny or incremental the change—and make things better.
After seeing the difference this simple strategy was making in the businesses he served, Patrick Lucchese began applying this same trademark approach to his charitable work. For years, he has invested his time, energy, and compassion in Porto Alegre, the city where he was born and a place firmly rooted in his heart.
Specifically, in some of the most impoverished areas on the outskirts of Porto Alegre, he saw that many of the residents lack the access they need to food, jobs, and healthcare. So he did what Patrick Lucchese does best. He rolled up his sleeves and looked for places to improve—no matter how tiny or incremental the change—to make things better.
And, turns out, not all of the changes he’s made have been small. He shares—
“I’ll give one example. Every time I go over there to help—to give out food and to be close to the community—I listen to tragic stories. One of them [involved] one of the ladies in our program who was an older lady, and she was not able to see. She was blind in both eyes. It started slowly, mostly affecting one eye, then moved to her other eye, and soon had left her almost completely blind. Then she gave up.
The public system in Brazil is not the best health care system, so she was not able to receive the right treatments or the right surgeries. She had gone blind and no one could help her. So I decided that I would do it. After we got involved, she went through, I believe it was five surgeries, and now she can see out of both eyes. She’s completely cured.”
While helping one older community member get eye surgery may not seem like a radical decision with the power to change an entire community, Patrick Lucchese believes it will create a ripple effect for good. Because the power to make big changes is actually found in incremental improvement.
As word spreads of what he did to help one blind woman regain her sight, people throughout Porto Alegre continue to learn that doing good for others is beneficial for the whole community, and they, too, can aspire to make an impact in the lives of their neighbors.
No doubt, his skill set as an entrepreneur and his compassion as the son of a heart surgeon are paying off in big ways.
Today, Patrick Lucchese is proud to take his children to see how the people of Porto Alegre are doing and how they’re implementing strategies to make a difference in their community.
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