In the UW’s backyard, a man works to end global poverty through his not-for-profit agency, the Borgen Project. His work has inspired a UW student to get other students involved in reaching the same goal.

“There is a $19 billion a year shortfall to end world hunger and severe poverty,” said president and founder Clint Borgen. “To give you an idea of how little that actually is, military contractors are raking in $220 billion a year from U.S. taxpayers.”

Ashley Pohlmann, UW student and intern for the Borgen Project, created a UW chapter of the Borgen Project to encourage students to get involved with the fight against poverty.

“Half of the world lives in poverty,” she wrote in an e-mail. “We have 37 million in the United States living in poverty. I just felt compelled to do something, be an active agent of change versus a passive member, who just gives money to not feel guilty.”

Pohlmann noted there are both internship and volunteer opportunities on the Borgen Project Web site, www.borgenproject.org, for students who are interested in expanding their global mindset.

“I believe that everyone has the right to food, shelter, healthcare, education, sanitation, clean water and other basic necessities. In the United States, we take tap water for granted,” wrote Pohlmann. “Most people I know will only drink bottled water. Imagine a life without the most valuable substance.”

The Borgen Project was founded in 2003 when Borgen was 25. At 21, he got first hand experience in humanitarian relief as one of many volunteers assisting in Kosovo refugee camps during the Kosovo War. His office is in Eastlake.

The main struggle the organization hinges on is the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set in 2000 by world leaders at a meeting in New York City. The goals aim to alleviate world poverty, agreed upon by 191 countries.

Although the UW chapter of the Project has only 10 members, Pohlmann’s goal and the goal for the club is to expand interest among college students.

“The goal is to create awareness for the Millennium Development Goals and the Borgen Project and to increase interest,” said Pohlman.

According to the Registered Student Organization Web site, the chapter’s purpose is to “mobilize college students to take action against global poverty, and to encourage our leaders to address the MDGs.”

According to the Borgen Project Web site, the largest obstacle in the completion of this project rests in the hands of the world’s top agenda setter, the United States.

“We’re creating a political force for the world’s poor. We’re building a powerful

poverty-reduction movement that can champion humanitarian causes,” according to the Web site.

“We have so much wealth in this world that there is no excuse for people going without these things,” Pohlmann wrote. “These great disparities between people are not innate, but manmade.”

Reach Daily reporter Michelle Zimmer at michellezimmer@thedaily.washington.edu