Nourish International – Claremont Chapter, founded this year by Manya Janowitz PO ’15 and Jacob Fiksel PO ’15, is working to combine entrepreneurship and overseas community service by planning service projects for the summer. The Claremont chapter of Nourish International currently has 147 members.
“Our mission is to make a lasting impact on global poverty,” said Janowitz, the chapter leader. “Our goal is to create student leaders and also create a generation of people who want to make a change in the world.”
The Claremont chapter of Nourish International is one of 29 chapters nationwide. According to Janowitz, each of the chapters follows the same basic structure. During the school year, students raise money through “ventures” (events and businesses on campus) that they create and run themselves.
They organize a project abroad in conjunction with a partner organization and, in the summer, a smaller group of students executes the project for six to eight weeks. Nourish International is also constantly working to raise awareness about global poverty.
While the specific summer project depends largely on the interests of chapter members, the members keep several guidelines in mind when developing ideas.
“The goal is that [the project] is sustainable and community-based, involving agriculture, education, providing clean water, fuel-efficient stoves, or other projects in countries around the world,” said Fiksel, the chapter’s international projects director.
Most projects are executed by six to 12 students overseas. Past projects at other chapters include Ohio State assisting a Peruvian community in accessing fresh water and Duke University organizing health education programs in Uganda.
Students take care in selecting a project and partner organization to ensure that their contributions make a positive and lasting impact.
Chapter members “make sure that it’s a reliable organization that’s trusted within the community,” Fiskel said.
Nourish International is unique in that it allows students to directly contribute in all aspects of its projects, from the type of fundraising to the details of the project itself. Not only does Nourish International strive to combat global poverty, but it also works to educate its own community about poverty and its members about business.
This coordinates with Nourish International’s goal of “creating student entrepreneurs and showing them that they can make money through business and also use their profits toward a good cause,” Fiksel said.
On Sept. 12, Nourish International earned a profit of $190 selling pizza at Pub from Pizza ‘n Such, and members hope to organize a wide range of events and programs to continue raising awareness and funds for their cause. Fiksel hopes Nourish International is able to implement a sustainable weekly venture on campus to accomplish its goal of raising $5,000 this academic year.
In the long run, Janowitz and Fiksel hope to expand the Claremont chapter of Nourish International.
“We want to raise more money as we become more established and be able to do multiple projects over the summer,” Janowitz said.
The Executive Board of the Claremont chapter is composed of Internal Communications Director Julie Shrieve PO ’15, External Communications Director Sydney Rupe PO ’15, Marketing Director Matt O’Connor PO’15, Financial Director Jonathan Feingold PO ’15, Awareness Director Heather Byrne PO ’15 and Ventures Director Natalie Dennis PO ’15.
The Claremont chapter hopes to appoint a chapter representative to connect with the national organization of Nourish International, as well as campus representatives from each school. Members also hope to partner with other California chapters, located at UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara and UCLA, and to conduct joint awareness campaigns.
Meetings are held every Tuesday at 9 p.m. at SCC 217.