TO THE EDITOR:
Last Friday, an article appeared in the DTH outlining Nourish International’s Global Music Jam (“‘Global Music Jam’ takes on hunger,” Oct. 15) and attempted to explain Nourish International. The article did not present a coherent picture of Nourish’s model, so we’d like to clarify our organization’s goals and values.
At its most basic level, Nourish International is a student organization focused on addressing issues surrounding global poverty. Nourish operates business ventures during the school year (like Hunger Lunch and Global Music Jam), the profits of which are invested in sustainable development projects each summer. We partner with community-based non-profit organizations around the world to promote essential needs such as public health, nutrition, sanitation and education. We embrace the idea of mutual exchange and collaborative learning, and understand that both partners — students and the community organization — are invested in one another to create sustainable solutions for the future.
So we’re not handing out food. We’re not paying for students to have an international experience. All of Nourish’s profits are invested directly into projects addressing needs identified by our partner community organizations, in collaboration with their own investment of time, skill and energy.
This may be our mission today, but we’re constantly re-evaluating it. We’re asking questions, striving to measure our impact. We understand that international development isn’t an answer; it’s a process, a discourse to which we bring a student voice. We hope this clears up Nourish’s goals. We’d love to have you in our next conversation.
Justin Loiseau
Greg Randolph
Co-Chairs
Nourish International
