Last year we both made our first trip to Nicaragua—separately. Alex Pollack, a sophomore at University of Colorado at Boulder, went with a group from school—HOLA (Health Outreach for Latin America)—to offer medical care for humans and animals. I was happy to hear about her experience and get tips for my trip to conserve sea turtles.
Ever since I’ve known her, Alex has been ready, able, and willing to help others. She is a passionate, energetic leader, making her mark on the world. Hopefully her desire to pursue her passions by giving back comes through in our recent interview.
Deborah: How do you define philanthropy?
Alex: It is taking your personal time to give back to the community or organizations that you feel are important to you in your life—something that enables you to want to give back and something that you really feel passionate about.
D: How are you engaging in philanthropy?
A: I am really active with an organization called Health Outreach for Latin America and I am the Grant Writing Administrator and Clinical Coordinator. Once a year we go down to Nicaragua and volunteer in Chacraseca and open up veterinary clinics and human clinics for seven days. We donate our time and energy and help to make the people and animals of Chacraseca feel a little bit better.
D: Who are you doing this with?
A: I’m doing it with a lot of other volunteers from University of Colorado, Boulder, and alumni of Boulder. Some are medical students, some are undergraduate students. It’s a wide variety.
D: What do you like best about this experience?
A: It identifies with my life because it’s something I’m really passionate about—giving back and specifically with health and medicine, which is a field I want to go into in the future. So, I’m able to gain a lot of experience from that….It’s something I’ll use in the future, but also giving back to people who aren’t able to get the kind of health care and medical care they need on a daily basis.
D: Tell me about the trips.
A: I’ve only gone on one trip so far and we’re going on the next one in the middle of May.Every volunteer pays for their own flight and is required to fundraise at least $600 to pay for the rest of the expenses of the trip and buy the medical [items] we need to go down there.
We land in Managua and travel to Leon. Chacraseca is a community outside of Leon with nine sectors and is one of the poorest communities in Nicaragua. Every day we go out to a different sector and open clinics. The veterinary clinic and human clinic may be in the same place or some days they’re in different places.
This year we’re putting in a traveling suture clinic for veterinary so we’ll be doing spays and neuters at the same time as giving injections for vitamins and deworming medicine. For the human clinics, we employ Nicaraguan doctors as well as fly down medical students from the medical school by University of Colorado, Boulder. They along with the volunteers help to triage and then the Nicaraguan doctors give out the medicines or the prescriptions they think are necessary for the patient. So, we aren’t going down there and taking our own knowledge and medicine. Instead we’re using the Nicaraguan medicine and their practices and helping to facilitate that.
D: What is the experience of traveling and volunteering like for you? What does it mean to you?
A: I think it’s really important, while I’m trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, to experience different cultures and different fields and take personal time during my spring break or the start of my summer to go down to a different country, community, culture, and volunteer my time….I could be relaxing, [but] I think [it] is a lot more rewarding and something I can put to use when I go back to school or look for jobs. It’s really important for my own health and the way I see the world.
D: And your major is?
A: I am majoring in International Affairs with a focus in Latin America. So I’m able to go down there and experience the cultures I learn about in my lectures.
D: It brings it to life, doesn’t it?
A: Exactly.
D: Are there any other philanthropic projects you’re a part of?
A: Not at the moment. I have [done some] in the past, growing up with my dad and the impact he’s had in my life—having philanthropy be something that’s really important and giving back to the community. Right now I think it’s important to put all my energy into one organization that I can really donate most of my time to. So, that’s HOLA for me.
D: Tell me more about how your dad has influenced you in your philanthropy or anybody else.
A: He teaches Service Learning at CSUMB. For my Bat Mitzvah project, we cooked meals for Dorothy’s Kitchen for a couple months. It’s something that has always been a part of my life growing up. He really values [philanthropy] and has instilled that in me. Giving back to your community allows your community to benefit from everything that you do, but you also get a lot of benefits from the experiences you have. You learn from them and can use them in the future.
D: Any other ways you’ve learned about philanthropy other than through your family?
A: Through my sorority too. We try to do as much philanthropy as we can…we put on Chi O Karaoke and donate all the money to Make-A-Wish. My favorite way to do philanthropy is not just by donating money, but instead time. So, things like going to the Children’s Hospital and delivering Valentines like we did this year. That’s something that has also been part of my life.
D: What do you like best about giving and how does it make you feel?
A: It’s the rewarding experience that you gain from donating your time, energy, and moneyto an organization that you really think is important to you. When you are able to find that organization that you feel really passionate about, it’s a lot easier to do, rather than feeling like it’s something you have to do. You can enjoy it at the same time. So it’s rewarding to me and the people I’m giving back to.
D: What is your philanthropic dream?
A: Ooh, that’s a big question! It would be [to provide] education for women or communities of children and young adults that can’t get the education they can use to thrive in their lives and would be of benefit to them. Education is really important in everyone’s life and no matter where you are, you should have the opportunity to get the education you need. I’m really passionate about that, as well as medicine. However, in order to give medicine you have to have education.
Alex is definitely driven by her passion! Like me, and others who travel and volunteer, she’s found it to be quite rewarding, on many levels. I’d be interested in hearing from those of you who have also volunteered while traveling. Please share your comments below.
