When you ask most college students where they are headed for spring break, it is usually to a tropical location where the fun is flowing freely. Not so for a group of students from the Purdue Science Student Council who will spend their vacation in Quito, Ecuador, as part of a medical brigade. The students are looking for alumni support and volunteers to accompany them.

The trip is being organized by the Purdue Chapter of the Timmy Foundation, a medical service organization based out of Indianapolis that provides medical supplies and monetary donations to healthcare organizations in third world countries. Each college chapter organizes its own individual medical service trip down to the country with which it is paired, along with supplying medical donations and raising funds for the construction of a hospital.

“The main goal is to support our partner in Ecuador so that we are able to promote sustainable healthcare, with the medical service trips used to educate Purdue students about what needs to be done, as well as serving to reach out to the under-served villages and slums around the capital, Quito,” said Jared Wilkinson, junior in the College of Science and a member of the Timmy Foundation Purdue chapter. Trip cost is $1,300 per person, which students must raise themselves.

“We are looking for doctors and nurses interested in traveling with us and we would greatly appreciate any donations of money, over-the-counter medicines, or hygiene products people can make.”

Several members of the Science Student Council and members of the Timmy Foundation Club include the past president of the PSSC, Henry Chou. The March 2008 trip is geared toward students interested in going on to professional school but anyone is welcome to apply.

Trip participants are selected based on their involvement in community service activities that Timmy performs in the West Lafayette area, and their response to three preset questions. Twelve students were selected from the forty-eight who applied for the March 2008 trip. That included students from College of Science’s biology and chemistry programs.

For more information or to donate supplies, contact Jared Wilkinson at wilkins3@purdue.edu. All monetary donations should be sent to the Timmy Foundation campus office:

The Timmy Foundation
c/o Jared Wilkenson
550 Stadium Mall Drive, Room 1163
West Lafayette, IN 47907