Three UF students are working to bring the third-largest international relief and development charity in the United States closer to campus.
Since summer, Kayla Cochran, Krista Hadeed and Ashley Quintal have been coordinating, meeting and planning the debut of Students for the Poor at UF.
The student group would represent Food for the Poor, a national organization that gives more than 96 percent of its profits to feeding the poor and providing emergency relief to citizens of 17 Caribbean and Latin American nations.
Students for the Poor will hold its first meeting on March 22 in Little Hall, Room 125. Cochran expects there to be about 30 people in attendance.
Cochran, a sophomore English major and co-founder and secretary of the group, was looking to get involved in a nonprofit organization.
“I was especially interested in a nonprofit that had a big emphasis on Haiti,” Cochran said.
SFP is different because it teaches sustainability. The organization is founded on the principle of teaching a man to fish in order to provide for himself, said Hadeed, a junior linguistics major and co-founder and president of group.
Quintal, a sophomore accounting major and another co-founder, said building a tilapia farm overseas is a way the organization can sustainably help the poor.
Cochran said the goal of the first meeting is to present the organization and tell students what they can do to help the poor.
