IHC aids local, global communities

The IU campus community offers students various opportunities for philanthropy, yet very few student organizations pride themselves on giving worldwide aid. The IU International Humanitarian Committee is one such group whose philanthropic mission encompasses many countries around the world.\nOriginally called the World Peace Committee, the IHC makes a point of avoiding political ideology while focusing the organization's goals. \nAbout 35 students representing eight different countries participate in IHC's charitable events, barbecues and car washes. Sophomore Francisco Gomez-Scifres, IHC co-founder and president, believes the main goal of the organization is to serve the international community.\n"The international or global community encompasses all of us," Gomez-Scifres said in an e-mail interview. "Our thrust is to educate, bring an awareness of issues throughout the world to students as well as to the local community. Bloomington, Ind., is very much a part of the international community, so local issues, concerns and problems are important in shaping our future." \nEducating the campus community about worldwide strife is one of the group's many goals. IHC also sponsors and aides various other student organizations' philanthropic activities.\n"We were contacted by the Indiana Latino Institute to work with Down Syndrome children in Peru as one of our projects over winter break or perhaps spring break," Gomez-Scifres said. "Other initiatives have included giving donations to Wishard Hospital Burn Unit and Monroe County Habitat for Humanity." \nThe IHC's current project is aimed toward funding scholarships for horseback riding lessons for Stone Belt Living Center clients, typically developmentally and physically disabled adults.\nIn addition, the IHC collected more than 400 pounds of school supplies at the Farmer's Market this summer to send to Nicaragua. \n"This is a very active organization," Gomez-Scifres said. "We want students who are willing to put in some hours on our projects, and since our motto is 'Making a Difference,' that is our intention. We just don't stop." \nIHC member senior Amelia Reiling believes the IHC offers many benefits for students who participate in the organization or donate to IHC fund-raisers.\n"(The IHC) is international in its vision but provides experiences that produce tangible results," Reiling said in a statement. "Probably the most significant outcome is the relationships among the members. They genuinely care about others, are friendly and helpful. I learn so much just from the members." \nSupporting fund-raisers and joining IHC are the best ways students can help. Currently the IHC is accepting donations of school supplies, packets of vegetable seeds, shoes and summer clothing to send to developing countries.\n"We always accept tax deductible donations of money to help pay office expenses, shipping costs and to support our initiatives and projects," Gomez-Scifres said.\nOn the international front, the IHC is concentrating its attention on the country of Sudan.\n"The crisis in Sudan may be based on political reasons, but the people who are starving and suffering are our concern," Gomez-Scifres said. "We have actually had people say to us that they will not give to an international organization, but that is because they misunderstand what we are about." \nWith or without generous financial contributions from others, the willing self-drive and humane compassion of IHC members like junior Sasha Growick continues to fuel the organization in its second year on campus.\n"There is a real bond among the members of the IHC, and that bond is based on serving others, helping out and making a difference," Growick said in a statement. "I feel that I am really making a difference in this world to people, some of them I will never meet, like in Sudan or Nicaragua, but also to people I do meet, like at Stone Belt and, hopefully, the children in Peru."\n-- Contact staff writer David A. Nosko at dnosko@indiana.edu.