UNE students join Jennifer Gunderman to deliver aid to refugees in Greece

UNE students walk through the "lifejacket graveyard" on the Greek island of Lesbos
UNE students walk through the "lifejacket graveyard" on the Greek island of Lesbos

Four students from the University of New England’s College of Osteopathic Medicine and Westbrook College of Health Professions spent their spring break providing aid to refugees fleeing violence in the Middle East.

Tyler Haddad (COM ’19), Emma Mason (COM ’20), Samantha Grela ’19 and Meghan Dahlquist ‘19 traveled to Greece with Jennifer Gunderman, M.P.H., UNE assistant lecturer, who has been an active volunteer staff member for the organization Carry the Future for more than a year.  

Since the start of the crisis, Carry the Future has been providing support to refugees arriving in Greece. Since countries’ borders have closed and thousands of refugees have been forced to settle in Greece rather than other parts of Europe where they were originally going, the work of Carry the Future has been focused on supporting on-the-ground organizations working in the Greek refugee camps.

While in Greece, the students provided and distributed aid and supplies as well as assisting in the camps. They taught classes for children, renovated classrooms and worked in the gardens. Grela says she wishes more people could understand the perspective she and her fellow students have on the crisis.

“They’re just looking for a better life, and I don’t understand how we can be not humane enough to understand that and care about them. I just wish people cared more.”

Read Gunderman's firsthand account of the experience in the Bangor Daily News.

Watch a story from WCSH.

To learn more about the University of New England’s Westbrook College of Health Professions visit www.une.edu/wchp

To apply, visit www.une.edu/admissions

The students taught children living in the camps
The students taught children living in the camps
The group sorted and delivered needed aid to refugees
The group sorted and delivered needed aid to refugees
The students left their mark in Greece
The students left their mark in Greece

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.