Students plan to use spring break to volunteer in Latin America

Many college students opt to lie on the beaches of Florida or on their couches at home during spring break. Forty-one particular students are heading south, too -- but for a different purpose than to get a great tan.\nThis group, the IU Timmy Foundation, has dedicated its spring break to helping others in developing countries of Honduras and the Dominican Republic, and participants are more than eager to do so. \nThe foundation began in 2002 and is a branch of the Timmy Foundation in Indianapolis, started by Dr. Chuck Dietzen. The foundation's goal is to promote quality world health care, specifically for children. \nSenior Maria Gramelspacher, a trip leader on her way to Honduras next week, has been busy helping others prepare for what will be her second trip to the Central American country through the Timmy Foundation. \n"I'm so excited, I want to go right now," she said. \nThe Honduran trip focuses on teaching public health to local residents and assisting in a construction project to build dormitories for a boys' school − the same school they helped construct on last year's spring break trip. \nGramelspacher said they will teach people about basic hygiene, dental care, nutrition and how to prevent and overcome ailments such as diarrhea. \n"So many times in these countries where they don't have access to health care, people die of things like dehydration from diarrhea," she said. \nThe other group of volunteers will head to the Dominican Republic on a medicine-based trip, bringing over-the-counter medications and assisting at various health clinics. \nJunior Aaron Morton, a trip leader to the Dominican Republic, said a number of locals, many of whom are Haitian refugees, do a lot of physical labor but do not have the resources to get medication. Even simple medications such as Ibuprofen are hard to come by. \nDuring last year's trip, Cathrine Reck, the faculty advisor for the organization, estimated they helped around 1,100 people in the span of one week.\n"They are so happy you are there to help," she said. \nMalaria and worms, diseases that seem to be part of the distant past to most Americans, are common problems in the Dominican Republic. Reck said the Dominican Republic has had problems with flooding, which leads to increased cases of malaria because of vast amounts of mosquitoes. \nAlthough these students are not taking a traditional spring break, they are excited about the new perspectives they will get to experience.\nSenior Ashley Raynor, a board member for the IU Timmy Foundation, has been to Honduras twice with the organization. She said she cherishes her experience and has trouble finding the right words to describe the personal importance of the trips.\n"One thing it made me aware of is my responsibility to other human beings, no matter where they are located geographically," she said.\nGramelspacher reiterated a similar message and she is interested to see how others who are going on the trip for the first time will react.\n"The whole experience just puts everything into perspective," she said. "What I am looking forward to this year is seeing other people's reactions and then helping them come to an understanding of what their purpose is in the grand scheme of things." \nAlthough the organization spends a lot of its time preparing for its spring break trips, it is involved with local volunteer events. \n"It's not just an international organization but also a national and local organization," Raynor said. \nRecently the Timmy Foundation brought a health fair to Templeton Elementary School. Medical professionals were brought in from Indianapolis, including founder Dietzen, to speak with the children. Timmy volunteers manned 12 stations that taught the children about different aspects of basic health care. \nThe organization welcomes volunteers to help both locally and on their spring break trips. All majors − from education to economics − are needed and will be used.\n"The world needs change, it takes more than doctors and nurses to do that," Morton said. "The more diverse we are the better services we can provide." \n-- Contact Staff Writer Ashley Brown at ashbrown@indiana.edu.