Spread Love, Not Germs
Written By: Anthonia Azubike, PharmD Candidate 2022 and President of the CPFI Student Chapter
Members of the Christian Pharmacists Fellowship International (CPFI) student chapter at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy know that the winter months can be very tough on individuals without homes. To help provide warmth to women experiencing homelessness in our community, we launched our 2020-2021 Hands & Feet Fundraising Project, which aimed to supply women at My Sister’s Place with warm winter apparel during Maryland’s cold winter season. My Sister’s Place is Baltimore City’s longest-serving women’s day shelter and resource center for women and children experiencing homelessness and poverty.
Setting an Example through Faith
Motivated by our identity in the Lord Jesus Christ through the cross, and as CPFI members, we commit ourselves to our relationship with God, service to one another and our community, evangelism, and perseverance in adversity by His power, for His fame. As part of our chapter’s continued work to serve others through Christ, we designed and sold custom face masks to fundraise for the purchase of winter apparel to be donated to the women at My Sister’s Place.
The initiative was led by our executive board members, including Anyen Fon, fourth-year student pharmacist and evangelism director for the CPFI student chapter; Olivia Thomas, fourth-year student pharmacist and treasurer for the CPFI student chapter; Edelquine Mandzo, a fellow student pharmacist at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore School of Pharmacy, who helped us market the masks and delivered our donations, and myself. Anyen designed the masks, which featured the phrase, “Spread Love, Not Germs.”
We sold the masks to our families and friends and marketed them through our chapter’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
Supplying Local Women with Warm Apparel
In the end, we sold 25 masks for $15 each. We also received approximately $55 in donations from faculty members at the School, which gave us a net profit of $242.50. We used these funds to purchase 180 bulk winter bundles care kits for the women at My Sister’s Place. These kits included socks, beanies, and gloves.
The Bible says, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10 NIV). Our chapter was overjoyed to have this opportunity to use the gifts that we have received through God in service to others at My Sister’s Place.