By Barbra Alan

For many,"think globally, act locally" is no more than a popular catchphrase. But for Upper Valley resident Frank Sands, former CEO of King Arthur Flour of Norwich,Vt., and his wife, Brinna, it is a way of life.

"We want our children and grandchildren to inherit a better world," says Brinna Sands. It's this desire that drives the couple to volunteer and support local organizations and educational institutions—among them the Upper Valley Land Trust, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing permanent protection of land and its resources throughout the Upper Valley, and Dartmouth College, Frank Sands's alma mater.

"Dartmouth is very important to our family," Frank Sands notes. It's easy to understand why: Frank's father, Walter, was a member of the Class of 1922; Frank himself is a proud member of the Class of 1958; and Frank's brother graduated from Dartmouth in 1959.Two of the Sandses' children are also Dartmouth alumni.

Tradition of giving
While Frank and Brinna Sands have a long tradition of giving to the College, the lion's share of their most recent generous gift will go toward the construction of facilities for the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences (CECS) within the C. Everett Koop Medical Science Complex, to be built on the Lebanon campus of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. CECS's new home in the Koop Complex will put its investigators in close proximity to physicians and scientists on the Lebanon campus, leading to a better flow of knowledge through research labs,

The Sandses' gift may be going to a local institution, but the impact of their generosity will help improve health care throughout the world.

inpatient and outpatient areas, and the community.

"We see the hospital as an extension of the Dartmouth community and of the Upper Valley community," Frank Sands explains. Over the years, DHMC has also

become an important part of the Sandses' lives: three of their grandchildren were born at the Medical Center, and Frank had both of his shoulders replaced by a DHMC orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. John Nutting.

But, says Frank Sands, it's Dr. Peter Williamson who gets the credit for inspiring this latest gift."Pete is a classmate of mine," Frank Sands explains. Williamson is also the founder and director of DHMC's renowned epilepsy program and cochair of the Transforming Medicine Campaign.