REVO 2010 Results Reach Ethiopia

Last school year REVO PUC, an annual student-run awareness and fundraising event, raised over $5,000 to help combat podoconiosis, a debilitating foot condition that is especially prevalent in Ethiopia. Last month those donations reached the African nation and are already making a difference.

According to a recent letter from the Tropical Health Alliance Foundation, REVO’s partner on the project, over 2,000 Ethiopians are currently receiving treatment for the disease and 7,000 pairs of shoes have been donated in a matching program by TOMS Shoes, thanks in part to the student efforts at PUC.

Students involved with REVO spend much of the year planning a major event each spring, to benefit a special philanthropy project chosen each year. The event raises funds through student donations and a sale of donated goods. It also generates awareness for the chosen issue through an all-year publicity campaign and a variety of smaller events throughout the school year.

In addition to the funds raised by REVO, PUC also hosted a visitor participation booth at last summer’s Seventh-day Adventist General Conference session in Atlanta, Ga. Visitors to the booth allocated over $1,300 in additional funding to go toward the project.

“It goes to show you how a group of college students who just want to change the world really can,” says Tyler McCulloch, one of REVO’s student organizers. “As we are already in the midst of REVO 2011, this is great news to keep us going.”