The Lewisburg Rotary Club heard a presentation from Greenbrier East High School’s GoGlobal-Interact group at their regular Tuesday meeting on Apr. 2.

GoGlobal is a student service organization with participants at high schools all around the United States, and our local faction is sponsored by the rotary club. Go-Global members including President Victoria Rose, Vice President Elaine Stewart, Secretary Josie Gillbert, and Treasurer Hannah Keller spoke to the club, along with their Leadership Team composed of teachers Elizabeth Daigle and Kim Dennler, and rotary member Jan Westerik. The GoGlobal group at GEHS is made up of more than 20 students of all grade levels.

The students led the presentation to the rotary, which covered a variety of activities that GoGlobal has participated in throughout the last year. In 2018, GoGlobal joined with the GEHS student government to raise money for Hurricane Florence victims with a bake sale. They raised $500 out of a total of $2,000 that was sent to students in New Bern, NC, for flood relief efforts.

The GoGlobal group has also recently returned from a leadership summit in Washington, DC, which took place over three days, and consisted of advocacy visits to West Virginia’s elected officials on Capitol Hill to discuss important issues with elected officials.

However, one of GoGlobal’s main focuses this year is fundraising for a charity organization called Nothing But Nets. Nothing But Nets is a global grassroots campaign to raise awareness, funds, and voices to fight malaria. Since 2006, with the help of partners and supporters such as GoGlobal, they have raised over $70 million to help deliver 13 million bed nets to families in need, along with other crucial malaria interventions like diagnostics, treatment, and training of healthcare workers. In Dec. 2018, GoGlobal raised enough money to donate 40 nets, and after participating in TOOT last year they were able to donate an additional 120 nets.

“They believe we can get rid of malaria by 2030, it is a goal that they have,” said Daigle. “Instead of one child dying every 30 seconds due to malaria, that number has declined to one every two minutes.”

GoGlobal has also been supporting CARE USA, a leader in advocacy to end child marriage. One of their key roles is co-chairing Girls Not Brides: The United States Partnership to End Child Marriage. Local students researched the organization, and decided to promote them by designing T-shirts and posters to help raise awareness, and hosting a fundraising walk that’s scheduled for later this May.

At the end of the presentation, the students presented an oversized thank you card to Westerik to show their appreciation for all his work he does for GoGlobal.