GlobeMed at Dartmouth's 4th Annual Benefit Dinner

Recently, the Rockefeller Center helped fund GlobeMed's 4th annual Benefit Dinner through one of its Mini-Grants. This was the most successful and well attended dinner yet, and it would not have been possible without the financial support of the Rockefeller Center. Hosting this dinner gave us to the opportunity to share our cause with the rest of our Dartmouth community. GlobeMed at Dartmouth is constantly working to understand the current political climate in Burma as well as to help our partner organization, Kachin Women’s Association Thailand, further their mission of improving health equity and access to basic health care for Kachin refugees during the ongoing Civil War. After developing such a close relationship with our partner, it meant the world to us to be able to share our passion with the rest of campus and raise awareness here in Hanover as well.

GlobeMed constantly strives to promote discussion of global health issues within our own organization. Through the Benefit Dinner, we were able to extend that conversation to other students as well. We were extremely pleased with the educational, inspiring, and insightful presentations our speakers shared. Furthermore, it was exciting to see how well our guests responded to the speakers. Many of them actively thought more critically about improvements in social justice, evidenced by their participation in a group activity, where they wrote down ways to make society more just and put it on a large banner. Several students even approached us and expressed how much they had learned and how grateful they were for the new perspectives they were given. Many asked about reaching out to our speakers after the event as well as about ways to continue the conversation they started. With the positive feedback we received, we are pleased to say that the Benefit Dinner enabled GlobeMed to facilitate an open discussion on campus about global health and expand our mission beyond our own organization. We have learned that Dartmouth students on campus are constantly eager to learn more and get involved, and are open to discussing ways in which to improve our community and the world. We simply need to provide them with the opportunity to do so, which was exactly the purpose behind the Benefit Dinner.

Moreover, it can be hard for GlobeMed members to visualize the benefits of our efforts, when we are helping a community halfway across the world. Yet, hosting this event united our group for a common purpose right here within our own home. We were able to see the benefits of our hard work with each new guest that walked through the door. I was so moved to see how eager our members were to share their commitment with campus and ensure that our event was a hit. The Benefit Dinner was a community building experience for us that showed just how much our organization is capable of. We pride ourselves on maintaining a partnership with Kachin Women’s Association Thailand and fundraising thousands of dollars for them each year. Yet, as students at Dartmouth, it was amazing to learn that we could actually educate our fellow students about the global health issues we care about. We could further our cause and raise awareness within our community, motivating others to share in the passion we have developed for global health equity and social justice. As a senior and president of GlobeMed at Dartmouth, the Benefit Dinner was a proud moment to remind us of why we fight for such an important cause and why our efforts are important. We cannot thank the Rockefeller Center enough for helping us to achieve our goal and making our 4th Annual Benefit Dinner such a success.

Submitted by Kristina Mani '16