Volunteers Around the World club raises money for trip to Dominican Republic
Volunteers Around the World, a new Utah State University club, put on a hypnotist show on April 29 to raise money for a club trip to the Dominican Republic.
Hypnotist Blake Powers performed the show. Powers has been to the USU campus before for other shows to help students travel and volunteer in Tijuana orphanages during spring break.
Kyle Hoopes, the president of VAW, was asked to help start the club this semester.
“I’ve been a part of the pre-dental club here on campus and I got contacted to apply for this team leader position here on campus,” Hoopes said. “We are the dental chapter; there is a medical chapter as well. Our aim is to go and do these service trips. We get to pick when we do them.”
The money made from the show will fund whatever extra medical and dental supplies VAW will need for the two full weeks in July that the club will be in the Dominican Republic.
The club is doing its best to help people all around the world, said Hannah Hernandez, the medical director for VAW.
“I think it is going to have a huge impact. What we do may be small as in our time, but what we leave is a legacy,” Hernandez said. “We go down there and we help and we educate so that they have better knowledge as to how to take better care of themselves and the people around them. We work with local dentists, we share techniques, we do all sorts of things to ensure that after we leave, they are still able to do a lot of the taking care of themselves by themselves.”
Kyron Larsen, the vice president, is excited to get first-hand experience in his field.
“I am going into pre-dental. My biggest thing is that I love helping other people in ways that they can’t really help themselves,” he said. “I am really excited to go get first-hand experience in dental and help others, so I will get experience in everything from teaching, being in a foreign country, dental, all those things.”
Because this club is so new to USU, VAW has to do a lot of recruiting if they want to go on more trips to help even more people around the globe.
“We want this club to be a strong club just like any other club. If we can build this up and keep the club strong, that is what we want to see. Other schools around the world, so it would be cool to see it become strong at USU, too,” Larsen said.
The show was a success, but more can be done to raise funds, awareness, and time to plan trips.
“The show went really well. Blake Powers does a really good job of putting on a good show, keeping the audience entertained and everyone loves it. We did get a pretty good turnout but because it was finals, we didn’t get as much as expected,” Larsen said.
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@RoniALake