UT's Campus is Encouraged to Get Involved

The Volunteers for Ethiopian Orphans campaign raises awareness on campus while trying to raise $50,000 in an attempt to help African Children.

Founder and President Ermias Regassa, wants to help aid the, “much-deserving, desperate programs” in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. VEO plans to provide food, clothing and medical assistance to the orphans in Ethiopia.

VEO will take a trip to Ethiopia, of students and doctors, June 2-Aug. 3, 2007, to hand-deliver this year’s target amount of $50,000.

“Although this year’s goal is a great start, our long-term goal is to become a non-profit organization, and open a VEO office in Ethiopia,” Regassa said.

“VEO is an upcoming student organization at UT that took only a week to start earlier this year,” says Anna Phillips, secretary for organization. It collects one-dollar donations, every third week of the month, in front of the library and the UC for a week.

To get involved, VEO holds weekly meetings every Thursday at 7 p.m. in the humanities building Room 71.

Learn more by stopping by one of their two locations or by visiting their Web site at web.utk.edu/~eregassa/veo.