By Sara Solimani, Staff Writer
The first ever chapter of River Hill’s Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC) aims to provide opportunities and funds to medically underserved communities around the world. Through collective efforts, the club has had major successes in their ongoing Medical Drive, several events to raise awareness about hot-button health issues, and multiple fundraisers.
The club is divided into 3 committees: Health Education & Advocacy, Fundraising, and Medical Drive. With weekly club meetings, each committee comes together to put their ideas into action. At a glance, this club might appear as any other club that is used for gaining service hours, but a lot of time and thought went into the development of FIMRC.
Junior Serena Goyal, founder and president of FIMRC, shares her inspiration: “I am deeply passionate about ensuring children have adequate health care. For kids, the strong need for access to adequate medical resources has become particularly evident during the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic. To help address this problem, I founded the first-ever chapter of FIMRC at my school.”
The current medical drive is a collaboration with NAHS, the National Art Honors Society, and is being used to send donations to the Howard County General Hospital under the proceed name of FIMRC. Organizing these events takes a lot of effort and willingness to spend a great amount of time.
Officer Alicia Antony comments on how she is involved, “I contribute towards the club by giving input on activities and being a leader in the fundraising committee. I help in event planning and promoting the club. I really want this club to flourish and I believe it will with so many great minds behind it.” She also shares that, “Being given this opportunity to be a leader towards my fellow classmates has given me a great responsibility which I am so grateful for.”
One of the committees, Health Education & Advocacy has become prominent in the community. They have been hanging up hand-washing posters and creating ads about AIDS during national AIDS month. Along with this, the other committee, fundraising, has done the Chipotle fundraiser and is looking into a lunch fundraiser and a potential “game day” fundraiser.
Future plans are also discussed during club meetings, and Goyal provides her thoughts on the subject, noting, “From this experience, I learned that I could inspire people who share a common passion to come together and build a better community on a much larger scale. We look forward to continuing making a positive impact for underserved children and families both within and beyond our direct reach as our FIMRC chapter continues to grow.”
Everyone involved in the club contributes in their own way, whether it’s setting up the next event, creating the foundation of new ideas, getting events approved by teachers, or even just participating in spreading FIMRC’s message.
Vedanti Patel, a sophomore that is a part of the club, discusses her experiences, “Specifically, I’ve made the hand washing posters that have been hung up around the school bathrooms. I also contribute by helping our committee brainstorm and come up with fun ways we can advocate for different issues.”
Being a part of the club comes with its own set of benefits, as well as the ability to aid the community. Members and officers of FIMRC come together to share ideas and contribute to the club’s success. It is greatly valued that members have fun and enjoy being a part of the group.
Pitching in with her thoughts, Patel says, “My favorite part of FIMRC is how it seems like we’re genuinely making a difference in our community, and how we always get stuff done. I like how we all have our individual roles but we also work together really well.” Antony agrees, saying, “I like how FIMRC has different sections such as fundraising or medical drives which a member can be a part of. Each member can focus on what they want to and enjoy what they are passionate about.”
Each club member is able to directly contribute to helping the health of thousands of children worldwide. Students are all helping out whether it’s hanging up posters to raise awareness, organizing and setting up fundraisers, traveling to international sites to help FIMRC field staff, or even just advocating about FIMRC through Instagram. With the help of all 3 committees and club members, River Hill’s chapter of FIMRC is able to make a global impact.