From the sidewalks of Athens to orphanages in Kenya, the University’s chapter of Nourish International is working to build communities.

The group works to empower college students to fight global poverty through sustainable development, said Michelle Paterick, print media chair and a junior psychology major.

The organization’s community service model was developed by a student at UNC-Chapel Hill in 2003, said Sarah Miller, chapter coordinator for the national office of Nourish International.

Ruby Kendrick performs for Nourish International's Sidewalk Symphonies at Kelly's in Athens on Thursday, Sep. 8, 2011. The University's chapter of Nourish International hosts Sidewalk Symphonies with local artists throughout the year. ELIZABETH WILSON/Staff

During the school year, students plan business ventures to raise money, she said. In the summer, students travel to other countries to work on service projects with the residents of those communities.

“We seek to do social ventures, where the goal is not only profit, but social interaction and good for the community,” she said.

This year, the University’s chapter’s main fundraiser is called Sidewalk Symphonies.

“We find local artists and bands to play at local restaurants on nights they might not make as much money,” Paterick said.

The fundraiser benefits everyone involved — the restaurants get more customers, the musicians get an audience and Nourish gets 15 percent of the profits from the night. The University chapter also hosts cookouts after football and basketball games to raise money.

With the money it raises, the group will travel to Kenya this summer to build two greenhouses. One will provide a sustainable food source for an orphanage. The other will produce food for a school, for the students to eat, or sell, to raise money.

“For a lot of kids, the school feeding is the only meal they get, at lunch time,” Paterick said.

Nourish’s service projects are designed to be sustainable, so they will last longer than the students’ summer visit. In 2010, University students created a sustainable agriculture project in Ecuador that is still in progress, Miller said.

“They’re still producing peppers and onions, and still producing a source of income for the community to sell,” she said.

Paterick and Miller emphasized that Nourish believes communities are best equipped to address their own needs.

The executive board of the University of Georgia's chapter of Nourish International at Walker's downtown on Feb. 3. Nourish International has been on campus for the past two years. Courtesy Nijal Kuruvilla

“We talk to them about appropriate solutions rather than come in and try to solve their problems, because they know better than we know,” Paterick said.

The University’s chapter is still recruiting students to travel to Kenya this summer.

Working with Nourish can be helpful for almost any major, Miller said, including international affairs, anthropology, sociology, pre-med, public health and business.

Nourish differs from other service organizations, Paterick said, because instead of participants asking donors to give money, Nourish’s business ventures give donors something in return.

“We try to find ways that we can implement these business ventures without just asking for money,” she said. “We’re always trying to provide a service.”

For more information:
uganourishinternational.com
uganourish@gmail.com
Informational meeting Thursday Feb. 23 at 5.p.m., location to be announced