 Philosophy Current Schools Partners Projects & Activities Recipient Entities Fact Sheet How To Get Involved Gallery
The primary goal of InterVol's FAB program is to teach through doing; providing an opportunity for civic engagement1 and service learning2 through ongoing volunteer activities.
Volunteers come from all areas of the Rochester Community, Western New York, and various colleges. They include high school students from throughout the Rochester area who volunteer in the warehouse to volunteers from Rochester General Hospital including nurses, techs, and information technology staff. FAB also attracts student groups from schools such as SUNY Fredonia, which has set up a FAB chapter and now sends students for a week-long volunteer trip to Belize to help teach in poor schools. Students from the Harley School are working to set up a hospice program in Belize as well. University of Rochester Medical Students participate in InterVol’s 6-week summer service projects working in the Belizean community.
FAB provides volunteer opportunities for Rochester General Health System’s non-medical as well as medical staff. Through a partnership with the Scouts of Belize, FAB volunteers set up that country’s first computer lab for the indigent and taught local Scout boys and girls how to use them. InterVol gave computers to the Belize Ministry of Health for use in their hospitals. These computers were recycled from Rochester General Health System. The Information Technology (IT) personnel cleaned, processed and prepared them.
Through a grant from the Dorothea Haus Ross Foundation, InterVol has set up a Telemedicine Network in Belize, a project headed by RGH nurse Cindy Gordon. Again, hospital IT personnel have been involved and even used their own vacation time to travel to Belize to help set up the infrastructure. Current Schools
| 1. Civic engagement is individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern. Civic engagement can take many forms, from individual voluntarism to organizational involvement to electoral participation. It can include efforts to directly address an issue, work with others in a community to solve a problem or interact with the institutions of representative democracy. ~ Source: Michael Delli Carpini, Director, Public Policy, The Pew Charitable Trusts |
|
2. Service-learning is a "course-based, credit-bearing educational experience that allows students to (a) participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and (b) reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility" (Bringle & Hatcher, 1995, p. 112). |
|
