GlobeMed, the new community service chapter at DU, is starting afresh this year and is working with a Cambodian grassroots organization to improve health equality for the region.
GlobeMed is similar to MEDLIFE, a student-run organization that was founded last spring and is led by co-presidents Ken MacNeal and Tyler Prentiss.
Both GlobeMed and MEDLIFE offer students not only the chance to give back to the less fortunate, but also give them an opportunity to expand their understanding of and connection to the rest of the world.
GlobeMed is a nationwide chapter with connections to over 46 other colleges across the country.
Now in its fifth year, the group is taking the idea of community service and putting a spin on it, which they hope will allow students to have more personal feelings with those they are helping and the causes they are interacting directly with.
Each year, GlobeMed partners a university with a grassroots organization. Each university has a chance to work in conjunction with that organization by raising money and spreading awareness for its cause.
The chapter places a special importance on collaboration and building close ties between the university and the grassroots chapter.
This year, DU has been paired with a Cambodian organization.
“We are just getting off the ground, but I have already learned so much,” said external Co-President of the chapter Aryn Tuinzing. “I am really looking forward to learning more about global health and that region of the world.”
GlobeMed separates itself from other chapters by providing members with a chance to work up close and personally with organizations that help the most impoverished places in the world.
“It’s called GlobeMed, but it’s really about building up all aspects of life,” said Tuinzing. “It’s more than just donating.”
MEDLIFE is also working to raise money to sponsor a week-long trip to Peru where students will work with doctors and nurses in a mobile clinic.
GlobeMed and MEDLIFE are particularly helpful for students interested in International Studies and Health Science.
The work they do with the organization allows students to better understand a different part of the world and the general problems of health equity, democracy, industrialization and other relevant issues.
Both GlobeMed andMEDLIFE also have local components. MEDLIFE is planning on putting on a health day event to coincide with National Food day on Oct. 24.
The GlobeMedU, another component of GlobeMed, features a series of on-campus lectures and a month-by-month specific study case. This year, students will be studying such topics as religion and global health, the LGBTQ community and global health and economic conditions.
“It’s not just about raising money,” said Tuinzing. “We want to know what and why about the issues.”
Participants are also given the chance to visit the part of the world they assisted through GROW (Grassroots Organization Work) internships.
During their time in the country, they do on-site work with the organization, plan for projects for the upcoming year and help to build a stronger bond with the chapter.
As a nationwide organization for only five years, GlobeMed has already raised over $350,000 for 33 communities around the world and has funded over 100 grassroots projects.
DU students involved in the organization will begin working to make a difference in January 2012 after new executive officers have been placed and trained during the fall quarter.
MEDLIFE currently holds weekly meetings Wednesdays at 6 p.m. in Sturm Hall.
GlobeMed will hold regular meetings in the winter quarter.
