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MEDIA BACKGROUNDER
Press
Contact:
Erin
Aldag
Overview:
The Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children is a
nonprofit organization, founded in 2002 and headquartered in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania They focus on eight countries; Costa Rica, Dominican Republic,
El Salvador, India, Nicaragua, Peru, and Uganda to get access to healthcare
and educate the communities in preventative health.
The FIMRC of Western Washington University is an Associated
Students club, founded in Fall 2014 that supports FIMRC and uses their
resources on campus to spread awareness to the Western community and
Whatcom County.
Their mission is to continue to spread awareness about the lack of
healthcare around the world and to fundraise for the cause. Westerns
FIMRC consists of 5 officers and about 25-35 volunteers. The meeting is held
every Thursday at 6 p.m. in Miller Hall 105.
Current
activities:
Westerns FIMRC previously partnered with the pre-med, biology, and
chemistry clubs at Western to spread awareness about Westerns FIMRC and
how they help local children around campus. Because Westerns FIMRC is a
new club at Western, their focus now is to bring new members to the club and
brainstorm new ideas to volunteer and fundraise around the community. Two
upcoming events are currently being planned:
Trivia Wack Funrasiser Trivia Night- April 2015
Clothing Drive- Spring 2015
Science of You boys and girls club- May 2015
Blood Drive on Westerns campus- October 13, 14, 15 2015
Girls on the Run- Nov 23, 2015
Facts:
Local
Many majors at Western require/advise students to have an
experience or internship to aid interviews and job opportunities. Such
majors include; Behavioral Neuroscience, BA, Biochemistry, Biology,
Community Health, BS, Psychology, BS, are majors that offer healthrelated majors at Western (Western Washington University)
Western Washington University provides about 33 abroad programs,
including Study Abroad, Internship, and Teach abroad programs in 25
countries. (Study Abroad Reviews)
One of the top five most popular majors for 2014 graduates from
Western is Health Professions and related programs (6%). (U.S.
News)
National Stats- Value of Student Volunteerism
University officials and employers almost universally stated that
experiencing an internship sets a student apart from his or her peers
even more. (U.S News)
25% higher starting salaries: thats how much more study abroad
students earn than those college graduates who do not study abroad.
(UCMERCED)
90% of study abroad alumni who applied got into their 1 or 2 choice
grad school. (UCMERCED)
University officials and employers almost universally maintain that
partaking in an internship, or several, which sets a students apart
from his or her peers even more-before graduation is integral to finding
meaningful employment in todays seemingly impenetrable job
market. (Burnsed, 2010)
Pre-med students who are productively engaged during the summer
months have an advantage during the medical school application
process, says Liza Thompson, a medical school admissions consultant
and former director of both the Johns Hopkins University and Goucher
College Post-Baccalaureate Premedical Programs. (USA Today)
st
nd
Short
Bios:
Erin Aldag - President
Erin Aldag is the president and AS Relations Chair of Westerns FIMRC. She
is currently a senior Biochemistry major at Western. She volunteered at
FIMRC last year for two weeks and, coming back to Western, the
organization urged her to create this club. She recommended her friends to
join FIMRC as well, including the Community Outreach Chair, Madalyn
Payne, and soon decided that fundraising and volunteering in the Western
community could help get the word out for FIMRC. Contact information:
(719) 289-8997
Boilerplate:
The Foundation for International Medical Relief for Children at
Western Washington University, Westerns FIMRC, an Associated Students
club and chapter of the national nonprofit, was founded in 2014 by Erin
Aldag at Western. Its goal is to spread awareness of the organization, hold
fundraisers within the community and send what they earned to FIMRC,
headquartered in Philadelphia. Westerns FIMRC has 5 official officers, but
includes approximately 15-25 volunteers within the club. The current club
president is Erin Aldag. For more information, visit their orgsync page at:
https://orgsync.com/106733/chapter
Sources:
Burnsed, Brian. "Degrees Are Great, but Internships Make a Difference." US
News and World Report. Last modified April 15, 2010. Accessed November 1,
2015. http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/04/15/when-a-degreeisnt-enough.
"Child Mortality." The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health.
Last modified September 2011. Accessed November 1, 2015.
http://www.who.int/pmnch/media/press_materials/fs/fs_mdg4_childmortality/
en/.
"Majors." Western Washington University. Accessed November 1, 2015.
http://www.wwu.edu/majors/.
Ramani, Neha. "5 Ways Pre-Med Students Can Spend the Summer." USA
Today. Last modified April 7, 2014. Accessed November 1, 2015.
http://college.usatoday.com/2014/04/07/5-WAYS-PRE-MED-STUDENTSCAN-SPEND-THE-SUMMER/.
"Western Washington University." US News and World Report. Accessed
November 1, 2015. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/bestcolleges/western-washington-3802/academics.
"What Statistics Show about Study Abroad Students." UC Merced. Accessed
October 12, 2015. http://studyabroad.ucmerced.edu/study-abroadstatistics/statistics-study-abroad.
the Associated Students. The only club-related activity students have to pay
for is if you choose to go abroad with FIMRC.
6. What kinds of extra curricular time commitments should I
expect?
Meetings are every Thursdays of the week, at 6 p.m. However putting
fundraisers and attending different events will require you to participate.
During those meetings, we brainstorm fundraising ideas and ways to get
more involved locally.
7. Who is involved in the club?
The majority of members in the WWU chapter are pre-med majors, but the
club is welcome to anyone interested. The benefits of joining apply to
everyone and students of all different majors are encouraged to join.
8. How many members are in FIMRC-WWU?
Typically, we have about 15 students, but our goal is to increase participation
to 25-35 new members.
9) How long has FIMRC been at WWU?
FIMRC was brought to WWU in the Fall of 2014 by Erin Aldag, who is
currently the chapters president. Aldag was inspired to bring the club to
Western after going to Peru to volunteer at one of the organizations sites.
FIMRC was founded in 2002 and is based in Philadelphia.
10. Where can I learn more?
We have a Facebook page that is regularly update and can be found by
searching FIMRC-WWU. For more information about FIMRC itself, go to
fimrc.org.
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Photo taken by Erin Aldag, during FIMRC-WWUs Girls on the Runvolunteering event.
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