University of Dayton Students Raise Funds for Honduras Trip

... the pancake breakfast helped raise money for two causes: Cover the US$1,600 per student to go on the trip and to purchase needed medical and dental supplies.

By Chris Rizer
The University of Dayton Center for Social Concern on Sunday held an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast to raise money for the fourth annual Honduras breakout program. Twenty-six students will go on the Honduras trip from January 8 to January 14, 2012, said Kathleen Scheltens, assistant director of the pre-medicine program and faculty adviser for the trip. While most of the students are biology or pre-medicine majors, the program is open to all majors, she said. Breakouts are domestic and international service trips students participate in through the Center for Social Concern during school breaks.

Shannon Hallinan, a senior biology major and a fundraising chair for the trip, said the pancake breakfast helped raise money for two causes: Cover the US$1,600 per student to go on the trip and to purchase needed medical and dental supplies. The UD students will distribute these supplies to people who visit the Honduran medical clinic where they will work.

Hallinan said the group of UD students also is seeking medical supply donations from outside sources such as Miami Valley Hospital and pharmacists. The students then plan to request contributions from Caring Partners, a non-profit Christian organization which collects excess medical supplies from doctors and hospitals and donates them to mission trips and faith-based medical brigades, Scheltens said. These supplies include dietary supplements, pain medications, antibiotics, topical creams, asthma, sinus and pain medications, she said.

The students will also teach Honduran clinic visitors about healthy practices such as brushing their teeth and washing their hands. She said the group will stay in dormitories owned by Global Brigades, the non-profit organization Scheltens worked with to set up the trip. Hallinan said three doctors, one dentist and a nurse from the Dayton area are planning on going on the trip to treat the clinic patients and help the students distribute medications. Global Brigades runs student medical and education service projects in different communities throughout Honduras, she said.

Scheltens said the January 2011 Honduras breakout was led by Robert Kearns, a biology professor and director of premedical programs. She said Campus Ministry asked her to advise this year's trip because Kearns was not available to lead it and because she led another similar Global Brigades breakout in May.

The January 2012 Honduras breakout will replace the May 2012 Honduras breakout, Scheltens said.

Glenna Knape, a senior biology and Spanish major who participated in the January 2011 Honduras breakout along with 15 other students, said she encourages other students to participate in the program in the future. She said the trip was run by a non-profit organization called Hombro a Hombro, which means "Shoulder to Shoulder" in Spanish.

Hombro a Hombro is an organization which provides housing to groups of volunteers to work alongside its full-time doctors to provide medical care to rural Honduran communities, according to its website.

Knape, who has applied to medical school, said last year's trip made her want to spend part of her career as a doctor in a Latin American country. She said she encourages other students to participate in the program in the future. "It was life-changing to understand how privileged we are in the United States in terms of our accessibility to medicine," she said.

Hallinan said she wanted to go on the trip because it had a medical focus and due to her experience attending other breakouts in Dayton, Chicago, New Orleans, and Salyersville, Kentucky. "I learned more from the people I interacted with than they probably gained from my help," she said. "I think being able to interact with people who don't have as much as I do is just such a humbling experience; you see people who live off of almost nothing and are just so full of life." She said the pancake breakfast is not the only fundraiser for the Honduras breakout.

Hallinan said the breakout group also held fundraising events at Monchon, the late-night weekend sandwich stand located on Woodland Avenue, and Smashburger on Brown Street. She said the group will also be selling long-sleeve T-shirts and will hold a fundraiser from 7-9 pm on November 29 at ArtStreet Cafe where part of the proceeds of the food sales will go toward the trip. She said the breakfast will include pancakes, sausage, muffins, donuts, fruit, orange juice and coffee.

Note: This article was reprinted with permission of the author. It was originally published in Dayton University's Flyer News.