International Services

Mission

The American Red Cross of Duke University is an organization consisting primarily of undergraduate students at Duke University. We hope to promote the ideals of the American Red Cross through volunteer efforts on campus, in the local community, and internationally. Our efforts can be categorized into seven major initiatives: Blood Services, Disaster Services, Red Cross for Kids, Health and Safety, International Services, HIV/AIDS Outreach, and Minority Health. We hope you find our website interesting and informative.

Projects

Hunger Banquet

In conjunction with the Duke Durham Hunger Alliance, International Services sponsors an annual Hunger Banquet-a dinner and discussion panel focusing on issues of world hunger. The dinner itself showcases the extreme dichotomy of the societal standard of living and then leads into a series of short presentations from those within and beyond the Duke community. Speakers share personal stories about the devastating food shortages that plague both the local and international communities and propose ideas regarding alleviation efforts. The following discussion then allows students and guests to share their own experiences and create a dialogue for issues that often escape notice in the hustle of our daily routines.

International Disaster Relief

Although broadly impacting natural disasters generate their own publicity and require little promotion in order to collect aid and donations, many of the international disasters that occur on a smaller-scale remain obscured by larger headlines of the daily news. With the Emergency Services committee, we attempt to raise awareness for these all too frequent international disasters, especially in impoverished areas where human aid and damage repair require external funds. The focus of each fundraising event will serve to shed light on a particular international disaster and hopefully generate funds for the associated disaster relief efforts. These events can take the form of discussion panels or a public display where donations are collected, and they may occur within or outside of the Duke setting. The efforts of the committee will organize these events on a monthly to bi-monthly basis; each event highlighting a different international disaster.

Nourish International

Starting at Duke in 2005 as Hunger Lunch, Nourish International is a Duke-UNC collaboration in which various events raise funds throughout the year to eventually aid in the creation of sustainable food centers abroad. The main events last year were weekly lunches that were sold to raise money and awareness for the project and its potential benefits. The project ultimately culminates into a summer volunteer opportunity where students can travel to selected destinations to actually help in the construction of these food centers. Although it is now a separately-recognized organization, there is still a considerable amount of collaboration between Nourish International and International Services.

Darfur Pilgrimage

In recognizing the recent genocide occurring in Darfur, numerous graduate and undergraduate student groups (including International Services) have organized a pilgrimage walk to reflect on the affected Sudanese refugees. The walk will take place on October 26th at 6:30pm along Campus Drive with stations along the walk dedicated to participant reflection. The participants will then gather at the Duke chapel steps where a Sudanese bishop will speak about the current conflict in his country.

TBD:

The HIV/AIDS orphan campaign
International Vaccine Initiative

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