A new club is promoting international and community service, and members said they hope the first trips will include Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama and Tanzania during Maymester.

The trips are being recruited for this semester as the group Global Endeavors @ UGA kicks off its chapter at the University.

“There are multiple opportunities to go abroad and set up programs to work with local non-profits,” said Camille Evans, a senior advertising major from LaGrange and vice president of public relations for the group.

The chapter is part of Global Endeavors Inc., an international organization started by former University students that works to bring public health, education, microfinance, and sustainability programs to underserved communities around the world. Main projects include building hospitals in Ghana and providing mosquito nets across Africa, Evans said.

“I’m in quite a few organizations, and I’ve never seen anything like this with people who care. Everyone is passionate,” she said.

The group hosts its first informational meeting today in the Miller Learning Center from 5:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m.

“We want to create opportunities for international service-learning projects, and along with that is a mission trip feel in a secular way,” she said. “A lot of people want to help out overseas but aren’t doing it for necessarily religious reasons.”

Steven Dorner, president of the University chapter, is part of the international executive board and wanted to introduce the idea locally to the entire student body.

“At first it focused on health care, but we want to go beyond that … to soup kitchens and all of that,” Evans said. “We want people who are really driven and want to give back on the international and local scale … maybe for those who haven’t had the opportunity to find a niche. We want to be that niche.”

The group looks to create a “huge, huge, huge philanthropy event to include the whole campus,” probably in the spring, Evans said.

This fall, Global Endeavors @ UGA will recruit members and host a volleyball tournament and benefit dinner for fundraising.