Project RightChoice a recently created student-run nonprofit organization that fundraises for a different charity each year hopes to raise $150,000 for the Fisher House Foundation, an organization that provides free housing near army medical facilities for families of injured and recovering service men and women. Project RightChoice allows students to actively apply their undergraduate education to real societal issues, according to Matt Oatway '12, director of finance for Project RightChoice.
"We're doing something real," Oatway said. "We're putting a practical purpose to our education and we're really applying all the skills that we're learning."
The Project RightChoice team selected the Fisher House Foundation as its benefit organization for this year after the founding members of the organization visited army medical centers and interviewed soldiers and their families to determine what sort of aid they most needed.
The cause is especially significant to the group because cofounder and Project RightChoice president Craig Fitzgerald '11, who spent over eight years in the Air Force prior to matriculating at the College, was severely wounded while serving in the Middle East, according to Oatway. Fitzgerald spent "years in and out of V[eterans] A[ffairs] hospitals across the country," he said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
The campaign also hopes to raise awareness about the veteran community at the College, according to Fitzgerald.
Members of Project RightChoice said they hope not only to help their selected cause, which is their first, but to also "motivate other students to look themselves in the mirror and say what can I do to make this society better,' and act on it," Fitzgerald said.
Donors who choose to support Project RightChoice not only provide financial resources to the charitable organization, but also contribute to the education of future leaders, Oatway said.
Fitzgerald, along with Erik Landgraff '11, Laura Coyle '12 and Wills Begor '12, founded Project RightChoice in the Fall to create a community service group that would provide students with practical experience with not-for-profit organizations and that would encourage them to continue helping their own communities, Fitzgerald said.
The aims of the group, according to its web site, are to "gain in-depth knowledge regarding community shortfalls" and to give students the opportunity to address those problems by raising funds and awareness for a chosen charitable organization.
To date, Project RightChoice has held a Veterans Day gala at the Hanover Inn and plans to host another event next month in celebration of Cinco de Mayo, which will offer students an opportunity to contribute to the Fisher House by purchasing raffle tickets. It has also received financial support from businesses in the area and has solicited donations from family, friends and community members through its web site.
Project RightChoice's members are in the process of planning a benefit auction to be held this summer in Boston. While next month's event is targeted toward students, the Boston event will incorporate Dartmouth alumni and business owners in the Boston area to support the student initiative, Fitzgerald said.
Project RightChoice will choose a new benefit organization each year. As a result, Project RightChoice volunteers will "have an opportunity to become knowledgeable and fully immersed in four different social issues" Fitzgerald said.
To choose future benefit organizations, individual members will research different organizations and develop a proposal to be presented to a panel of academic and nonacademic advisors, including local community members, according to Fitzgerald. Looking to the future, Project RightChoice's goals include expanding its donor base, according to Fitzgerald.
Once the panel selects one of these proposals, the Project RightChoice team will plan a year-long course of action, Fitzgerald said.
