Local Act, Global Impact

Spring break means a lot more than working on a tan for members of The IU Timmy Foundation. It means saving lives.

Since 2002, more than 200 IU undergraduates have spent their spring breaks on medical service trips to Honduras and the Dominican Republic. Working alongside Timmy Foundation physicians, they are providing essential care for impoverished populations.

The Timmy Foundation, based in Indianapolis, works to provide healthcare to poor people in developing countries. Through its local college chapters, it organizes medical service trips that students participate in. The IU chapter is currently waging a campaign to create an endowment of $20,000 to help underwrite the costs for IU student volunteers. Edward L. Hutton, whose generosity established the International Experience Program (IEP) through the Hutton Honors College, has agreed to match every dollar raised by the IU chapter. The club is halfway to reaching its goal.

"The club’s work is invaluable," says Karen Hanson, former dean of the Hutton Honors College and now IU Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President. "Club members alleviate needless suffering and death by administering medicine and providing care for illnesses that would otherwise go untreated. The students also derive great benefits from this international experience. For them, service to others becomes a lifelong practice."

Srujana Kunapareddy, a 2007 IUB graduate who went on three Timmy Foundation trips, wholeheartedly agrees with Provost Hanson.

"I have been asked if I really think that the one-week Timmy medical brigades in these countries make any difference. Yes, I do!" exclaimed Kunapareddy, who is now pursuing a master’s degree in public health at IUPUI. "The members work with partner organizations on long-term projects that have a huge impact. The trips inspire members to do more work in the field of health disparities, whether at home or abroad. You have to become aware of the changes needed before you can make them."