University of Idaho sophomores Hunter Howell and Hailey Lewis said they had never dedicated themselves to a cause from the grassroots up, and what they had done was shown themselves to be leaders among their peers, exhibited a genuine interest in international development and real passion for what they did.
Parker Wilson | Argonaut
Registration for the Color Over Poverty Run took place Thursday outside the Idaho Commons. The proceeds from the run will go to Nourish International to send a group of eight students to Bali to educate children and help end poverty.
That’s why when UI Director of International Studies Bill Smith learned of Nourish International, a coalition of student-run nonprofits whose mission was to end global poverty, he asked Howell and Lewis to take charge founding a chapter on campus.
“I really liked (the Nourish) model to come up with their own business plan to fund projects they invest in, and to conceptualize it at all stages,” Smith said. “They figure out what they want to do first, they come up with a partner in the developing world, figure out how much it would cost and they come up with a way to raise money. It’s on them all the way, through.”
Nourish, according to Lewis, is essentially a student-run nonprofit — each of the 45 campus chapters across the U.S. partners with an international nonprofit to put a dent in extreme poverty. Each chapter gets to decide who they want to partner with, what they do to help and where they want to go. Smith said, once the chapter’s application was approved by the national chapter, his involvement became completely hands off, and it became an entirely student-run organization.
For their first year on campus, UI Nourish decided to send seven students to volunteer at the Slukat Learning Center in Bali, Indonesia in June.
“Nourish believes that we need to step into the community,” Lewis said. “We don’t tell them what they need — they know what’s best for them, and we just make those things happen. We chose Slukat in Bali to partner with. They told us they were looking for help, and we were looking to give it.”
In an economy dominated by tourism, today’s Balinese youth need a proficiency in English in almost any job they go into, Lewis said. Prior to Slukat, underprivileged children could not afford English classes, making it almost impossible for them to enter the workforce with a job any higher than entry level. Slukat provides the free afterschool communication classes that will give Balinese youth a competitive edge in the job market.
According to Lewis, Slukat said it was also very important to retain Balinese culture, so they will also assist in cultural classes such as yoga and dance.
According to Nourish adviser Bill Smith, the thing that sets the organization apart from others on campus is that the entirety of their time on campus is spent doing what he calls the least fun part of any organization — fundraising.
“It’s hard to sustain interest, because pretty much all of the work for the year is fundraising,” Smith said. “There’s no fun blowout sort of thing, no speaker or activity. The whole academic year is really just fundraising. You have people who are interested who can see the payoff at the end of the academic year who are helping raise funds who aren’t even going to go on the trip, and that’s just amazing commitment.”
For their first year, UI Nourish decided to raise $4,000 to give to Slukat. These funds will go toward things like books and desks, but no travel expenses. UI students pay their own way to Indonesia and back, meaning the entirety of the funds they raise will be donated to their cause. Half of these funds they hoped to raise during the month of February for a competition put on by the Nourish national chapter called The Giving Challenge.
“The Giving Challenge is a race between all the chapters,” Lewis said. “We set a goal of sending $2,000, and the Nourish national office will match 5 percent of our total funds.”
The students of Nourish were optimistic about their goals, but, according to Lewis, the beginning of fall semester was rocky.
While many students were interested in the concept of the organization, she said, they were deterred by the fact that they hadn’t actually done anything on campus yet, and had only the vague promise of service and travel in the future. Lewis also said it didn’t help that they didn’t confirm their trip to Bali until November, well after many students had found their niche on campus.
Today, Nourish has about fifteen dedicated members. The groups first few ventures, such as a midnight pizza sale called Hot Meals for Hot Messes and a Homecoming pumpkin smashing event, were met with low turnout due to cold and rainy weather. A rice and beans lunch hosted by Nourish in Bob’s Place was a little better received, but still didn’t give them the boost in funds they were hoping for. Lewis said their first big success came with the Nourish International Date Auction, where they surpassed their goal of $300 for the night, netting a total of $500.
During the date auction, they found out they’d reached their goal of $2,000 for the Giving Challenge. Ultimately, they raised $2,200 and came in 11th place –impressive, Lewis said, for a small, first-year chapter.
According to Howell, approximately 10 percent of new Nourish International chapters aren’t profitable in their first year and don’t make it to see a second. She thinks the UI chapter is going above and beyond.
“Most first-year schools partner with an already-existing chapter,” Howell said. “Not many first-year chapters pull off a partnership in their first summer, or actually get to travel their first year. I think we’ve done really well on our feet, dealing with so much other than Nourish, doing so many good ventures and making really cool things happen.”
At times, though, both co-founders agreed running the club can be high-stress, and with both of them in New York for a week for Model United Nations and spring break, the time crunch has been a challenge.
“We’ve committed to sending $4,000, and we don’t want to be the people who have to say we don’t have it,” Lewis said. “These are often one-wall classrooms in heavy rains … not only would we feel bad, but without the $4,000, the kids would be affected.”
Though their deadline is nearing and the group leaves in a little less than two months, UI Nourish has planned a few more events to meet their goal. Students can still sign up to be part the Color Over Poverty color run on April 19. Registration fees are $20, and participants will receive a T-shirt and goody bag.
Nourish will also serve homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches at the Moscow Renaissance Fair the first weekend in May.
Lewis said Nourish can be expected to be a strong presence on campus next semester, and they hope to host more events such as a global music night or a petting zoo.
“We’ve gotten things rolling with our ventures, raising money and recruiting members,” Lewis said. “It can only go up from here, and that’s really successful.”
As Smith sits back to watch the club he imagined grow into a profitable, self-sustaining organization, he can’t help but agree.
“The nice thing about Nourish is that it has the ability to reinvigorate itself each year,” Smith said. “Each year, students enter a long-term partnership. They can go back to the same site every year or find a new place to do something else … they have enthusiasm, and they aren’t afraid to fail.”
Hannah Shirley can be reached at [email protected]