Nonprofit and humanitarian aid club seeks to help those in need, will host speaker events in October

Liberty University’s Nonprofit and Humanitarian Aid Club (LUNHA) may be only two semesters old, but they are making plans for the future. 

As part of its goal to learn from people working in the humanitarian aid mission field, LUNHA will be hosting two speaker events in the month of October. The first will be Oct. 10 and will feature Kelley Duvall, who is part of the World Help organization.

LUNHA is also partnering with the Global Strategy and Supply Chain Association to host a speaker from Serve Now on Oct. 30. This conversation will be about cultural intelligence and how that can be applied to the work of the club and humanitarian aid work being done in the field. 

“(Cultural intelligence is important) especially when you are doing work internationally … even in a non-profit. When you think of cultural intelligence not just necessarily like we always (do with other countries or languages) but also, even other socioeconomics and how you interact with people that live lives that are different than yours,” LUNHA president, Ann Grawunder, said. 

LUNHA began last spring when business students who had cognates in either humanitarian aid or nonprofit management saw a need to share their interests with others. The club held its first interest meeting last semester and spent the summer finalizing the details of the club. 

While it is still waiting to be approved as an official SGA club, the club has continued to move forward with its goal of bringing students together in community and allowing it opportunities to network and develop professionally. The club’s members strive to use the connections Liberty has to offer from a biblical perspective and show what serving in the humanitarian aid field looks like from a business standpoint. 

The club recently completed its first service project of the semester when it partnered with Lynchburg Daily Bread, a local organization that provides food for those in need. Members were encouraged to bring in different ingredients of trail mix and the club packed the bags of food together. 

While the club is preparing individuals to serve later in their careers, it is also ensuring that service is something the members are prioritizing in their current stage as students. 

“As Christians, (serving) should be the natural outflowing of the grace that the Lord has shown to us,” Grawunder said. “So, the opportunity to get an education in that and to start to apply that through the club, I think, is just an incredible way to bring glory to the Lord and prepare ourselves for the future.”  

While LUNHA was created out of a desire to bring community within a cognate, the club is open to students in any major who have a desire to serve and learn more about this field. 

“I think that there (are) so many incredible opportunities to connect students with local organizations, and there is such a large and growing need for workers, and especially Christian workers in the field of humanitarian aid,” Grawunder said. “(We can) think of all the natural disasters and wars, the number of refugees and even the number of needs in our own country.” 

The club meets every other Tuesday at 5 p.m. To learn more and stay up to date, follow LUNHA on Instagram.

Norman is a feature reporter for the Liberty Champion