Last February Austin College honored Dr. Paul Farmer, founder of the medical nonprofit organization Partners In Health, with its Leadership Award of $100,000. This gift recognized Dr. Farmer’s astonishing efforts to bring health care to the world’s poor, and will go a long way towards accomplishing this goal. Because many students are extremely moved by Farmer’s cause, we are raising additional funds for Partners In Health at Austin College. Utilizing the Facebook network, we are soliciting as many students as possible to contribute to this fabulously worthy cause.

But Austin College is just the beginning. Paul Farmer's extraordinary efforts are worthy of our admiration, and his nonprofit organization is worthy of our contribution. All across the US, students are reclining in their armchairs, messing around on Facebook or playing video games. What if those students realized how much of a difference they could make, and how great it would feel for them to do so?

Students for PIH attempts to inform America's youth about the titanic efforts PIH is making for the developing world and to mobilize them to change the world.

Farmer became interested in Haiti while a Duke premedical student. Talking to migrant workers near Durham, he recognized Haiti’s extreme need for basic medical services: immunization, and proper nutrition. He donated his own time and money to helping the underrepresented around the world receive proper medical care. This is the statement of Ophelia Dahl, director of Partners in Health:

In 1987, starting with a handful of volunteers and funding from a single donor, PIH launched a project in rural Haiti, with the aim of providing assistance to a community of refugees. Over the next 18 years, PIH grew slowly to include projects in five additional countries. In each case, PIH was invited by the community or the government to provide services in areas profoundly affected by poverty, violence, and epidemics of disease. Before we began any new project we weighed the decision thoroughly, aware that PIH specializes not in short-term emergency interventions but in partnerships that we expect to last a lifetime and beyond.

start a Students for PIH chapter at your school, organize fundraisers for PIH, educate others about Dr. Farmer's efforts, donate money or medical supplies to PIH, volunteer for any organization working to help the less fortunate, remember that the world is not perfect and that anyone can help make it better