Tag Archives: philanthropy

Summiting to See the End of Neglected Tropical Diseases

Africa, END Fund, ,

 

SummittoseetheEND

 

Eliminating the most prevalent neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) from our planet is an ambitious goal. It requires commitment, patience, know-how and dedication: qualities that are also required to summit Mount Kilimanjaro. This summer, the END Fund together with dedicated visionaries, NTD experts, humanitarians and business entrepreneurs, will trek to the top of one of the world’s highest peaks while raising awareness and resources for the fight against NTDs as part of the organization’s initiative, Summit to See the END.

According to Sarah Marchal Murray, Senior Vice President of the END Fund, Summit to See the END came into fruition after a new board member and avid hiker joined the END Fund team this past summer. His combined passion for hiking and ending NTDs in children fueled the idea. In November, the END Fund turned this idea into a reality as they “soft launched” the project and started to spread the word amongst the END Fund community.

The ultimate goal of the journey is three-fold:

  1. to demonstrate the exhilaration that comes from tackling the 19,341 ft summit and draw the parallel in tackling NTDs,
  2. to raise awareness about NTDs and how they affect the most impoverished populations, and
  3. to mobilize crucial donations for the END Fund’s work in 2014 and beyond.

Hikers also pledge to reach out to their networks to help achieve these goals, in addition to making an initial individual commitment. After summiting Kilimanjaro, they will also participate in an NTD learning day where they’ll be able to see NTD control programs in action, interact with those closest to the cause, and meet members of a community affected by these debilitating and disfiguring diseases.

But the journey to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro is far more meaningful than a set of goals typed on a website. Sarah sees this trek as a life-changing and transformative journey that requires those involved to deliberately reflect on their own commitment to ending NTDs, as well as the lives of those suffering from these debilitating diseases.

Besides getting the body and mind in shape for the hike, the training process also provides the hikers with another way to connect with their families and communities and increase NTD awareness.

The END Fund hopes that the experience will leave a lasting impression, fueling the hiker’s engagement with the NTD cause and motivating each hiker to share their experiences with those close to them – further expanding the network and increasing awareness for NTDs.

“Providing our community with a link to the people we serve was important to us. We think the summit is symbolically significant: if each individual hiker comes home and shares with their networks and circles how it personally touches them, there’s a ripple effect,” Sarah explained. “While financial resources are imperative if the NTD community is going to reach our aims of control and eradication by 2020, there is great power in the amplification of our voices amongst each hiker’s personal circles.”

For hikers like Sarah, this experience is a very personal one. In a letter addressed to her friends and family, she explained why she is making the trek.

“Partially because of where my husband and I are lucky enough to live, we won’t have to worry about our daughter contracting one of the five disabling, debilitating and deadly diseases known as NTDs. A group of parasitic and bacterial infections, they affect nearly 800 million children and are the cause of death for over 500,000 people per year.”

“So [I am hiking] to prove to myself and my daughter that anything is possible.” In addition, she writes, “[I am hiking] so that the only worms I need to educate my daughter about live in the ground and not inside children her own age.”

Ultimately, like the fight to end NTDs, the preparation and hike up Mount Kilimanjaro is a marathon – not just a sprint.

“NTDs won’t be wiped off the planet this year,” Sarah said. But if we concentrate our efforts, join together with the growing international movement committed to seeing their END, and continue to push forward, “we can summit to see the END in our lifetimes.”

Learn more about the END Fund and Summit to See the END.

An Evening of Charity

poverty, Student Advocacy, , ,

In his previous blogpost, Sean Donegan introduced the charity dinner he and his peers are putting on to fundraise for Share Our Strength. In the blogpost below, Sean goes into detail about the logistics of organizing such an event so that other like-minded college students who wish to do the same will have an idea of where to begin:
By: Sean Donegan

It’s the night of the event so I will be discreetly ducking out of class early to set my Fraternity House up for the Share Our Strength Charity Dinner. We expect to have over three hundred students at the event along with our corporate sponsors setting up their booths. Our chefs are all busy cooking a huge buffet of chicken and salmon with various side orders that meet the dietary needs of all the individuals who generously donate their time and money to support Share Our Strength. The House’s sound system is also being adjusted for the event’s DJ, Greg Monte.

Each Greek House has taken over the responsibility of one seventh of the ticket sales. This entails allowing their Brothers and Sisters to sign up for the event and then billing them at the end of the semester when they are paying for their room and board. With a group of experienced and dedicated Philanthropy Chairs working with me, I am proud to announce we were able to sell out in only two weeks. I was surprised to learn that many people had bought tickets to support their Fraternity/Sorority and the cause even though they may not be able to attend. Currently we have sold 345 tickets with an estimated 303 attending the actual event which has seating for only 300. If we go over, extra chairs are on reserve to be set up. Continue reading →

Sharing Our Strength to End Hunger

poverty, Public Health, Student Advocacy, childhood hunger, ,

Today we feature a guest blog post authored by Sean Donegan, a pre-med student at Cornell University and colleague of Seth Hoffman, author of last year’s Student Summer Series. Sean writes about his upcoming philanthropic venture – organizing a fundraising dinner for the DC-based nonprofit Share Our Strength. Although Share Our Strength (who has blogged for End the Neglect in the past) focuses domestically on childhood hunger in America, NTDs and hunger can be comparable in that they are both problems that affect marginalized populations. Furthermore, NTDs and hunger alike disproportionally impact children, delaying their development and adversely affecting their performance in school, which perpetuates the cycle of poverty. Read on to see what Sean and his peers are doing to help break this cycle:

By: Sean Donegan

It’s 6:00am, I’m riding a horse through the forests and farmlands of Western New York. Thirty men and women in britches and blue blazers on horseback are staring me down because my phone just went off informing me about this blogging opportunity. The Fox Hunt will proceed with me one hand typing my first blog post.

Hello, my name is Sean Donegan, I’m a Senior at Cornell University. I’m the Director of Philanthropy at my Fraternity, Alpha Gamma Rho. Through a collaboration with Seth Hoffman (last summer’s blogger), I will be helping to organize a Charity Dinner that will hopefully deliver over $5,000 to Share Our Strength.

Last spring, I hosted my first Charity Dinner through my Brotherhood that raised over $3,200 for the Congo Leadership Initiative. The collaboration was made between my Fraternity and three other Greek Houses. After meeting with Seth Hoffman, Philanthropy Chair of The Sigma Phi Society, we decided to expand the dinner to a total of seven Greek Chapters and to give the proceeds to Share Our Strength. We will be sponsored by three clothing retailers; Vineyard Vines, Southern Tide, and Life Changing Apparel. Continue reading →