Mike Torchia (Fundraiser for Scholarships in Peru)

Mike Torchia participated on two Global Volunteers service programs: one in Costa Rica and one in Peru. While working at Pericultorio Aranibar Perez orphanage in Lima, Mike was struck by how difficult it is for most children to attend college due to tuition fees. In his words, Mike describes this as ‘the gaping chasm that existed between the vast number of opportunities I had been given that others have not”.

Global Volunteers has a sponsorship program in place, where contributors can dedicate their donation to a student’s tuition. Mike decided he wanted to make a difference by contributing to this program. In his blog, Mike refers to the quote by a fellow volunteer that inspired him to do something: “Because I have been given much, I too must give”.

Upon his return to Minnesota, Mike came up with the idea called the “Great Transversal of Minnesota”. The Great Transversal of Minnesota took place in June and consisted of a 400-mile, 7-day trek across Minnesota. This trek was completely human-powered and included kayaking, swimming, biking, rollerskiing and running. Mike set the fundraising goal at $5,000 which he surpassed! For more information, visit Mike’s blog at: www.greattransversalofminnesota.blogspot.com.

Lauren Fishbach (Fundraiser for Tutova Clinic, Romania)

Lauren served on a Global Volunteers Romania program with her mother in March of this year. She grew very close to the children of Tutova clinic and as soon as she returned home, she began researching different ways in which she could help individual children with specific medical conditions as well as the group as a whole. Lauren spread the word about the need at Tutova clinic and inspired several people to make donations for this program or to become Romania Sponsors. Lauren went back to serve on another program in July and upon her return held a very successful fundraiser that will enable Global Volunteers to continue providing financial support to the Tutova program. This support mainly includes paying for food and salaries of additional staff to care for the children at the clinic.

Mimi and Eric (Water Project in Pommern, Tanzania)

Mimi and her husband Eric were on a Global Volunteers service program in Pommern, Tanzania in March of 2008. They fell in love with the people and the area and decided they wanted to continue their support to the Pommern community beyond their service program. While there, Mimi and Eric developed an interest in the water project currently planned in Pommern. The project is to build a multi-use water system which will provide the Pommern community with a reliable and safe supply of drinking water. This water system will be used by the schools and the medical clinic in the village. Mimi and Eric realized that the need for the new water system in the community is great, but that the project was not able to move forward due to the lack of sufficient funds from Global Volunteers donors. Once they came home, they began closely working with Global Volunteers on developing different ways of raising funds to support this project. Mimi and Eric developed a website to use as a fundraising tool. The website can be found at http://www.pommernwaterproject.com/. They are spearheading the fundraising for the Pommern Water Project to ensure that the funds needed for this important project are raised. They will be holding their own fundraisers and they are encouraging other former Pommern volunteers to do the same. Mimi and Eric offer assistance to other supporters in holding their own fundraisers for this water project.
The mission of this project is: To build a new multi-use water system which will provide the Pommern community with a reliable and safe supply of drinking water. The new water system will take water from a nearby river to new water storage units where it will be continuously available. The new water system will also purify the water for safe drinking.

Kathleen Ismail (Ghana Scholarships)

Kathleen is a nine-time volunteer with Global Volunteers and also a former Board Member. In February, Kathleen traveled to Ghana for the first time and fell in love with the Senchi Ferry community. While in the community, Kathleen learned that 95% of the children attend school through eight grade, because there are no tuition fees. However, less than 10% go on to high school because of the annual tuition fee of $500, which most families simply cannot afford. As soon as Kathleen came home, she began working with Global Volunteers on a Ghana Scholarship Fund program. She has been working feverishly on raising funds that will allow all children of Senchi Ferry to continue their education on to high school, as stated in Kathleen’s Mission Statement: To ensure that all children in Senchi Ferry, Ghana who graduate from 8th grade can attend high school. For those who do not have the financial resources but qualify, the Ghana Scholarship Fund is there to help.

Kathleen created many fundraising tools to assist her in achieving her goal. One of these tools is a Ghana Scholarship brochure which can be viewed here: http://picasaweb.google.com/hubbard.ismail/UpdatedBrochure?feat=email#5357662827750279218
A touching video about the project made by Kathleen can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mayBgdsTooM

You can view her website at: http://www.ghanascholarship.com/

Deb McNally (Senchi Ferry Library, Ghana)

A three-time volunteer, Deb McNally has always acknowledged the importance of education in every community. While on her service program in Ghana, she spoke with different students and community members and saw the need and an interest in having a community library. Since 2007, Deb has been working on raising funds to build a library for this community. Since then, along with Senchi Ferry community members, Global Volunteers has been making great progress on building the Senchi Ferry Library. Deb worked relentlessly and recently surpassed her fundraising goal! In addition to working on raising the funds for this project, Deb is also finding creative ways to partner with other organizations in order to purchase and deliver books to the community Funds not spent on the construction of the building will be used to purchase library furniture as well as books.

For more information, please visit her website at http://www.senchiferrylibrary.com/