Baylor Medical Service Organization will host a Thank-You Gram Fundraiser April 5 to 7 to raise money for the Waco Family Health Center.
The organization will sell thank-you cards that will be given to professors. Brea, Calif., junior and Medical Service Organization treasurer Daniel Truesdale said. Adding candy to the cards is optional.
“It’s something very small that has a huge impact,” Truesdale said. “It’s personal because you can write in the card.”
Medical Service Organization members will sell cards in the Baylor Sciences Building atrium.
“This is our first semester doing this,” said Sugar Land junior Sasha Asthana, Medical Service Organization vice president of administration and service committee cell leader. “I think it will be successful. Hopefully people will want to thank their professors.”
Asthana, who thought of the idea for the fundraiser, said it fits the organization’s focus on service.
“It really aligns with our values,” Asthana said. “It’s like the perfect [Medical Service Organization] fundraiser.”
The Waco Family Health Center provides quality health care to vulnerable populations of the community and was “created to address a shortage of doctors, lack of primary care access to the less fortunate population, and economic development,” according to its website. Truesdale said Medical Service Organization has a mutually beneficial relationship with the family health center.
Medical Service Organization is a service-based organization that volunteers in the local medical community. Its service is organized into “cells,” and students volunteer with the same cell every week, providing an opportunity to build relationships with each other as well as with the area in which they serve.
“It really helps our members see the work they’re doing really helps,” Asthana said.
Truesdale volunteers in the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Clinic, which is associated with the Waco Family Health Center.
“[Before joining Medical Service Organization,] I was fairly confident I wanted to practice medicine, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do,” Truesdale said. “I can really see myself serving a community like that.”
Asthana said from day one, she found her roommates and friends in Medical Service Organization.
“It’s been everything,” Asthana said. “It’s really matured me professionally throughout college. It’s been a huge influencer.”
Medical Service Organization members can deliver the grams to professors upon the purchaser’s request.
“Professors are some of the strongest influences in our undergraduate experience,” Asthana said. “They really mold us into who we are after [college]. Sending a small thank you note would just be an easy way to show your appreciation for how much they do.”
