By Brian Redline | Internal Co-President
Wow! It has already been three months since GlobeMed at WashU first created a page on GlobalGiving.org and embarked on the April 2013 Global Open Challenge. Thanks to all of you who have supported the work we do to support our partner organization in Uganda, we have secured a permanent spot on GlobalGiving.org. Securing this spot was an important step in our efforts to improve the sustainability of our fundraising efforts moving foward.
The end of the school year and the beginning of the summer has been an exciting time for our chapter. As we finished up fundrasing efforts for the year, we sent off eight amazing seniors into the real world, and we said goodbye to each other for the summer as our Staff Members set off for experiences all over the country and the world.
The third weekend of April was the Thurtene Carnival -- the oldest and largest student-run carnival in the United States. For the past three years, GlobeMed has operated a frozen chocolate-covered bananas stand at the carnival, and if we have learned anything at all, it is that George from Arrested Development was correct, "There's always money in the banana stand." The campaign this year was chaired by first-year Globemedders, Alani Douglas and Ami Sawhney, and under their leadership the campaigned earned over $1,000 of profit!
Following Thurtene Carnival, the semester started to wind down as classes ended, final exams approached and our 2012-2013 Individual Giving Drive came to a close. In our last chapter meeting of the semester, our members got a chance to reflect on the year and celebrate the GlobeMed careers of the eight seniors that graduated this May. We came together as a chapter one last time in the days between the end of classes and final exams for our annual end of the year BBQ, which was a great time for everyone to share their plans for the summer.
In the weeks that followed the end of exams, our executive board worked from all corners of the world to tie together the last few loose ends and get the money that we raised during the 2012-2013 academic year to our partner in Uganda. The money has now been transfered to UDHA, and when all was said and done, our fundraising total for the 2012-2013 year came out to $13,513.95, breaking our committment of $10,500 by over $3,000!
Most exciting of all of this news, however, may be that three of our GlobeMed Staff Members are currently in Uganda, interning at UDHA! Each of the past five summers since our chapter was founded, we have sent interns to our partner organization through a program we call Grassroots On-site Work (GrOW). Just yesterday, we recieved an update from our GrOW Team members, who are currently working at the UDHA Youth Resources Center in Iganga. The team told us in their email that they are loving their time in Uganda, and that they are constantly being inspired by the passion and dedication of UDHA's staff in their mission to improve the health of their community and their country. Our chapter is also inspired by this same passion and dedication, and we are excited to welcome home our three GrOW interns to share their experiences with us in September.
Thank you always for your continued support,
The Staff Members of GlobeMed at Washington University in St. Louis
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