Students’ ‘spare change’ funds 5 clinics for a year

Students in a first year environment and sustainability course surprised their professor, Dr. Phil Dearden (geography) when the class raised $550 in about 10 minutes for World Vision. In his wrap-up lecture  Dearden was talking about the sins of over consumption and the threat of underconsumption in many parts of the world...a topic that threads throughout the course. Dearden showed the class a World Vision gift catalogue and explained that a mere $100 would fund a medical clinic for a year, as drug companies would match the amount raised by a 17-fold multiplier ($100 = $1700). Dearden passed around a hat and the students gave their "spare change" which amounted to $550, or enough to fund five medical clinics for a year, plus change to fund classroom supplies. “Do the math with the multiplier and that’s quite a gift from our students,” said Dearden.