Dear Laguna Blanca Faculty and Students,

My name is Chrissy Sim, a student and representative of . Global Medical Brigades (GMB) is a secular network of university groups. It is one of the nine Programs of Global Brigades, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and the world’s largest student-led international relief organization. Global Brigade’s mission is to provide rural communities with sustainable solutions under a holistic service model, in order to improve health, water, sanitation, and economic infrastructures. Since 2005, nearly 12,000 volunteers, consisting of students and health professionals, traveled to Honduras to deliver services to about 250,000 patients in over 100 communities. These are low-income, rural communities with limited or no access to medicine otherwise.
Our group will be traveling to Honduras for one week and will be functioning like a mobile medical unit, setting up small clinics to diagnose and treat patients at no cost. From in-take, to triage, to medical consultations, to filling the prescriptions, we will experience the many realms of the medical profession under the guidance of licensed medical professionals.
As part of our medical brigade, we provide every patient that comes to our clinic with vitamins. Because our clinic can see upwards of 1500 patients throughout the course of our trip, it becomes a challenge to ensure that we are able to acquire an adequate amount of vitamins for distribution. We came across the idea of working with a local Santa Barbara high school and its students to raise awareness about issues in global health as well as collaborating with students to host a vitamin drive. This vitamin drive would be a simple fundraiser for which students would donate unopened, unexpired bottles of adult multivitamins, children’s multivitamins and pre-natal vitamins that we will distribute at our medical clinic this June in Honduras.
As a medical brigade, we intend to use these medications and supplies to provide the basic health needs that are inaccessible to many of these Honduran communities. In these harsh economic conditions, we realize our true wealth, including good health and access to healthcare. This contrasts with the developing world that cannot provide the most basic needs for their people. However, through volunteering and awareness, we can show our gratitude for the privileges others do not receive. For this reason, we immensely appreciate any donation you are able to give and want to recognize your impact in these humanitarian efforts. Please consider supporting our cause. Any gift is tax-deductible, and will make a tremendous impact on the lives of those that we will be serving.
Please consider forwarding this message to any students or student organizations that would be interested in collaborating with our organization. If this is an idea that appeals to your student body, I would love to meet in person to facilitate a discussion and help out in anyway we can. Feel free to contact me with further questions at my email: [email protected] or my cell phone: (818) 618-0746. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Chrissy Sim

—
Medications Chair
Global Medical Brigades
University of California, Santa Barbara
[email protected]
Tel: 818.618.0746