A group of AU students established a new chapter of Nourish International this semester to find ways to alleviate poverty by engaging in worldwide community service projects.
Nourish International's primary goal is to focus on one community service project per semester in order to execute it more efficiently than undertaking several at once, according to Celia Daly, the AU chapter's co-founder, co-president and treasurer. Additionally, NI tries to ensure that each community it assists will be able to continue improving itself without NI's help.
Currently, AU's chapter is raising money to build a school for between 530 and 550 children in San Ildefonso Ixtahuac'an, Guatemala. Daly said NI needs to raise $8,000 before the project can begin. When it does, involved students can fly to Guatemala and help build the school and watch its own progress.
"It's really involved," said Venture Director Lauren Ryczek, a sophomore in the School of International Service. "It's student-run so that we raise money, we pick the project, but then we have the opportunity to go down to wherever we choose and participate and see the community interacting with the project."
A lot of thought goes into each NI project, especially when considering what a community may be lacking in order to thrive, Daly said.
"You find out what that community needs," she said. "It's not about deciding, 'Okay, I want to go to Kenya and I want to build a school.' It's 'What do you need? What do you want? How can we help you help yourselves?'"
NI currently has 22 chartered organizations at various college campuses around the country, according to the organization's Web site. NI only had three chapters a year ago, according to Daly. To date, NI has funded 12 projects at locations in South America, India and Africa. The national organization also has four upcoming summer projects.
AU received its NI charter this semester and began to hold meetings in September. The biggest challenge AU's NI chapter currently faces is participation deficiency. Since the club just recently became active, most of the AU student body isn't aware of NI's existence, according to Venture Director Jack Weingard, a sophomore in the School of Communication.
"We have to prove to people from the beginning that we deserve their time and their money," he said. Nevertheless, he said he feels optimistic that things will get better for their chapter in the future.
Daly said she was also concerned about getting sponsors. Since the chapter is not yet well-known within the AU community, businesses are hesitant to let them hold fundraisers at their locations, she said.
Daly and Weingard said they hope other community service-related clubs will get involved with NI in the future because of its hands-on aspects.
"It's so much easier to sit on your couch and donate a few dollars than it is to go and see what you're doing," Daly said. "You're really involved."
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