ALEXANDRA BODE / STAFF REPORTER
Two Butler University students are working to bring a chapter of Nourish International to Butler.
The group’s mission is “to engage students and empower communities to make a lasting impact on extreme poverty,” according to their website.
Junior Sarah Zimmerman spent the spring 2014 semester studying in Latin America where they first heard about the organization which has more than 60 chapters in the U.S. and Canada.
Junior Carson Dreyer heard about the group through his membership in Alpha Phi Omega, a service fraternity.
Nourish International focuses on student leadership, social enterprise and responsible development, according to their website.
Students involved in the group raise money for their school’s partnership and international projects.
Since being founded in 2003, the organization raised and invested more than $460,000 from various student-run ventures, according to its website.
Members also receive the opportunity to intern overseas.
“It’s a cool way of doing service because we run the business and actively raise money which allows us to get more involved,” Dreyer said.
More than 600 students worked abroad in 11 years.
There are 113 international projects to chose from in 28 different countries.
“We really would go and work with and beside the impoverished people which helps form relationships,” Zimmerman said.
She said she is working to partner with a staff or faculty member.
“I would love to find a professor who has a connection in a certain area,” Zimmerman said.
The pair are also considering finding places in the United States to focus on in addition to somewhere abroad.
“There’s a lot of poverty in Indianapolis and the United States we don’t really address because we focus on international need,” Zimmerman said.
They are working to gauge interest on Butler’s campus.
“I think it’s really important that students are activists of the social change,” Zimmerman said.
Students of any major can participate in the group.
“I believe this is a really good opportunity for business students and international studies students,” she said. “But there’s really a lot of opportunity to get involved and to participate to whatever extent students desire.”
