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$1 Tour Update: Spotlight on the University of Georgia

42-1Joe and I were fortunate enough to spend a few days at the University of Georgia during our $1 tour. We arrived Thursday evening and met with the UGA MEDLIFE Chapter Officers — Emily, Kelsey, Silki, Carolyn, Danny, Garrett, Katie, Meredith, Savannah, Amanda, and Poorvi. An hour later, we were delivering our presentation to a group of nearly 60 students, our biggest crowd of the tour!

After the presentation, the UGA officers invited us out for frozen yogurt, and we discussed their efforts on campus. Joe and I were blown away by the commitment and organization of these MEDLIFE student leaders, each of whom is going the extra mile to help MEDLIFE bring aid to poor communities.

Katie, the fundraising chair, had planned a scarf sale for Saturday at a local farmers’ market (like many MEDLIFE chapters, UGA sells Ecuadorian scarves brought back from a recent Mobile Clinic). Six students showed up to the market at 7am on Saturday morning to help raise money for the MEDLIFE Fund. While most college students were sleeping off last night’s debauchery (remember that UGA was ranked as the #1 party school in the nation a few years ago), these UGA MEDLIFE-ers raised nearly $500!

Other MEDLIFE members were leading an initiative to help improve the facilities at a local school that provides instruction to poor families in the Athens, GA area. MEDLIFE doesn’t require that student chapters engage in local community service work; these students had gotten involved simply because they saw another way that they could use MEDLIFE to bring help to those in need.

 

42-2Joe and I stuck around until Sunday so that we could participate in a team meeting with all the chapter officers, and we were once again impressed by what we witnessed. Chapter Presidents Emily and Kelsey do an excellent job managing their team, and every contributor was prepared to speak about their goals for the semester. UGA is planning to send a Mobile Clinic to Lima over winter break, has multiple fundraisers in the works, and is actively applying to receive grants and additional funding from their school’s administration. They were even able to secure their own MEDLIFE office space in the Student Activities Center.

We were sad to leave Athens the following morning, as we wanted to stick around to see what these MEDLIFE-ers could accomplish, but we had a full schedule of presentations (from Atlanta to Miami) planned for the upcoming week.

Thank you to all the UGA MEDLIFE Chapter Officers for your work this year, and a special thanks to Danny for giving Joe and I a home (and tour guide) for our stay in Athens!

 

Remember that you can donate to our $1 tour through our campaign page!

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Hear it From MEDLIFErs

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Reya Seby
Western University

This trip motivated me more to pursue a career in the healthcare field so that I can use my resources to help those who need it the most, similar to MEDLIFE’s mission.

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Victoria DiCanio
University of Connecticut

It was most enjoyable to finish the hard work and see how big a difference a group of individuals can make. It was such an amazing experience.

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Anita Woo
University of Toronto

I enjoyed the mobile clinics the most, especially the dental and triage portions. I would definitely recommend a MEDLIFE trip, it was a great experience.

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David Saff
Maclay High School

The most enjoyable part of my trip was hanging out with the amazing group of kids I was with. I would highly recommend a MEDLIFE volunteer trip to others.

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Sydney Sansone
Nova Southeastern University

This trip made everything that I was learning in my public health courses come to life and immersed me in a new culture while also learning about medicine.

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Abygail Youmans
College of Charleston

Being involved with MEDLIFE is not like joining another club - its bigger than that. It is about joining a movement that seeks to help change people’s quality of life for forever.

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Emi Hofmann
University of Central Florida

Not only was I able to participate in a week long Mobile Clinic, shadowing doctors of all types of specialties including pharmacy, dentistry, gynecology, and more, but I was also able to learn about the culture and visit incredible places.

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Julian Takagi-Stewart
University of Toronto

One thing that I really loved about this trip was that MEDLIFE made sure that the volunteers got an understanding of the complexity of issues that lead to underprivileged people in communities outside of the main city

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Hannah Van Hofwegen
University of Ottawa

Whether it was basketball with the local kids, assisting the doctors, talking with families, building washrooms, holding babies, or spending time with the people who were on the SLT with me, this was an amazing opportunity that I would do over and over again.

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Isabelle Holt
Cornell University

I loved learning about the patients MEDLIFE has followed and how they offer real help to people with chronic/urgent conditions. It is amazing how the organization formed real connections with the communities.

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Valerie Lindeborg
Parent

Our family had the privilege of participating in multiple trips with Nick [founder] and his amazing staff. Their expertise made the trips unforgettable while instilling in my boys the fundamentals of good character: selflessness, compassion, and empathy.

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Harry Vildibill
University of Georgia

As an aspiring physician, MEDLIFE motivated me to further continue my goal of becoming a doctor. In fact, I enjoyed the Tanzania Service Learning Trip so much that I decided to go on another trip to Cusco, Peru.