Final GBM of the Semester
April 11th, 2024- Thank you to everyone who came out to our final GBM of the spring 2024 semester and school year! It sure was an emotional one as we bid farewell to our 2023-2024 executive board, and welcomed our new board! We also recapped memorable moments from throughout the school year and presented our final events happening in April. Stay tuned for more GRMR events and volunteer opportunities happening this summer!
Thank you to all of our volunteers for your dedication to GRMR this school year and for allowing us to aid our refugee communities to the best of our abilities. And congratulations to our graduating seniors! We thank you for all of your hard work for the betterment of GRMR! You all will be missed dearly.
Final In-Person Tutoring Event of the Semester
April 13th, 2024- Thank you to everyone who was able to join us at our final in person tutoring event of the semester! We traveled to Jacksonville and learned about heart health, colored, played sports in the gym, recapped the school year with a heartfelt video presentation created by Gabby, shared a meal with our community, met a pet bird, and so much more!
In-person tutoring is one of the main ways we connect with our community and assist them with their needs! Thank you to all of the families who support us and allow us to put on these events! And thank you to our co-directors of education this year, Gabby and Yashaswini, for all of their hard work towards these events and their dedication to our families! We will miss you!
Baseball Concessions
April 12th, 2024- Thank you to everyone who joined us at baseball, basketball, or football concessions this semester! It’s always a wonderful time raising money for a refugee supporting cause!
Concessions are the main way we raise money for our semester non-profit and support our refugee families. This semester we are raising money for Border Angels, a nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid along the San Diego and Tijuana border!
RWHP Medical Speaker Event
March 28th, 2024- Anna Villagomez, Health Programs Manager for the Rural Women’s Health Project, spoke to GRMR about the Rural Women’s Health Project’s work with migrant populations throughout North Central Florida such as through campaigns like Project SALUD that links immigrant communities to local health resources and provides public health education. Their work during COVID-19 to ensure vaccine access and build awareness was published in the American Journal of Public Health:
https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307454
GRMR x UF MSDA Dental Hygiene Day
March 23rd, 2024- Thank you to everyone who was able to come out or contribute to our GRMR & UF Muslim Dental Student Association Dental Hygiene Day in Jacksonville! The UF Dentistry students presented lessons on how to properly brush your teeth, dental hygiene trivia, and how much sugar can be hiding in our everyday drinks! We also conducted a science experiment to show how sugar eating bacteria can break down our teeth! We had a blast. Thank you to our education and medical teams for putting this event together and for the UFCD students for wonderfully leading our lessons and teaching our families about dentistry!
Arts in Medicine Workshop
February 10th, 2024- We traveled to Jacksonville to host two medical and educational workshops! For the kids, a science tutoring lesson and an Arts in Medicine activity. And for the adults, a Sleep and Stress Management lesson with tips to help improve sleep quality and healthily deal with stress. Thank you all for joining us, it was a wonderful time!
Fall 2023 GBMs
October 12th, 2023- Thank you all for coming out to our GBMs this semester! It is always great to catch up with the GRMR community. At GBMs we start with fun icebreakers by our VP Jakob, hear updates from every director, highlight our upcoming volunteer opportunities, announce our member of the month, keep our members informed on current refugee-related events, and so much more!
Football Concessions Fall 2023
October 7th, 2023- A huge shoutout to our amazing concessions volunteers this Fall 2023 semester! We are grateful for all of your hard work. Volunteering at concessions has allowed us to raise money for our semester non-profit, the Rohingya Culture Center.
The Garden Project
March 4th, 2023- Huge shout out to everyone who joined us for our tutoring and gardening day! At tutoring we taught the kids about health and nutrition. At the community garden we helped move logs, remove weeds, clean up the center, and so much more. We even had a chance to have a home cooked Burmese meal all together. It was a jam packed day with lots of fun and rewarding activities. We cannot wait to come back and help improve the garden even more!
Trivia Night Social
February 25th, 2023- Thank you to everyone who came out to our Trivia Night social! Congratulations to Naya, Victor, Ludo, and Thor the dog for winning!
Final GBM of Fall 2022
December 1st, 2022- Thank you all so much for coming to our final GBM of the semester! Thank you for all of your hard work this semester. Huge congratulations to Annie and Alejandro for being the members of the semester, we appreciate all of your hard work in GRMR. They are rocking their purple GRMR cords for graduation! Thank you to everyone who donated toys for our holiday drive as well. We are so proud of everything we have accomplished together this semester and we look forward to next semester!
In-person Tutoring and Gift Giving
December 3rd, 2022- Our last in-person tutoring session of the semester revolved around all things astronomy! We ended our session with giving all of our kids gifts from our holiday toy drive! Thank you to everyone who donated a gift physically or monetarily for our winter gift supply drive! Our kiddos loved them and this wouldn’t be possible without you all!
Emergency Medicine Workshop
December 5th, 2022- Thank you to Rebecca Melvin from UF Health Jacksonville for coming to teach our families about life saving emergency techniques like how to stop a bleed and hands on CPR. Our families learned about various life-saving tips as well as receiving their own UFHealth TraumaOne bleeding control kits. Thank you to all of our volunteers, translators, and any one who put effort into this project. We appreciate all of your hard work.
Project Downtown Collaboration
November 6, 2022- Thank you to everyone who joined us in collaboration with Project Downtown, an organization aimed at feeding the local homeless population every weekend. We were able to assemble and pass out medical kits (thanks to your donations) as well as food to the community! We look forward to volunteering with them again!
Fall 2022 GBM #3
November 3rd, 2022- Thank you to everyone who joined us for our 3rd GBM of the semester! Only one left! This semester has truly flew by. But GRMR still has lots of exciting events in store. Also, congratulations to our Member of the Month, Jakob Meredith! And thank you to everyone who donated medical supplies, we will be using them to make care kits for our collaboration with Project downtown this Sunday!
Spring 2022 GBM #1
January 27th, 2022- Thank you to all the members who joined us for our first meeting of the 2022 year and the spring semester! It was wonderful getting to see everyone again. We played a fun game of Get in Line, announced the different opportunities for the upcoming month, and congratulated our Members of the Month- Dhruv Panchal and Klea Gjoka! Thanks for everyone that joined!
Fall 2021 GBMs
Fall 2021- We had a wonderful time meeting all our members at our GBM this semester! We had some fun games, like Human Bingo and Roll Call, learned some Arabic, collected supply donations for Afghan and Burmese families, and more. We shared some exciting events with you all and congratulated our Members of the Month— Tran Le, Syed Tahir, and Camellia Raz! Thank you for everyone who joined us this semester!
Football Concessions
Fall 2021- Throughout the semester we had amazing volunteers come out to help us fundraise for our communities. We served some food and drinks at the home UF football games, and had a great time with fellow members in the stand. With their help, we raised over $8,500 for our communities and families! Thank you to every single member who came out to help fundraise with us, without you guys this could not have been done!
Midnights at Mid
Fall 2021- Throughout the semester we also had our lovely members come help us sell baked goodies at Midtown on the weekends. We sold our brownies, cookies, and more (made by some awesome members) to the college folk walking around! Defineitly some great stories, and a good time- and we raised over $1,000 for our communities! Huge huge huge thank you to everyone who helped make this happen!
Immigration: Policy, Advocacy, and Allyship Event
November 8th, 2021- GRMR hosted an advocacy and allyship event for refugees and immigrants, with Chispas and OPA on campus for members and the community to join- both in person and virtually. We had guest speakers (a legal professional and immigrant rights organizer) join us t tell us about the work they do, and how we can contribute to better the communities. A truly educational experience!
Spooky Social
October 23rd, 2021- For our October social, we had our members come together for a pumpkin carving day of fun! We gooped out some pumpkin guts, played spooky music, and had a costume contest. Thank you to all who joined us!
RAM Clinic
September 25th-26th, 2021- A group of GRMR members volunteered at the RAM Clinic in Louisville, Georgia. The Remote Area Clinic provides free quality healthcare to communities in need. This weekend, our volunteers were committed to helping RAM deliver medical, dental, vision, and women health care services, free of cost, to the hundreds of individuals that attended. A wonderful cause and a great experience— huge thanks to the volunteers!
Bad Art Social
September 2021- Our first social of the semester was a Bad Art Day where all our members showed off their terrible art skills! While some members did not get the memo and created beautiful piees, we all enjoyed a beautiful and sunny day at the park. We met some amazing fellow GRMR embers, had some pizza and drinks, and painted our hearts away. Congrats to Mahian for the worst art piece!
Thanksgiving Social
November 20th, 2020- Our members had a great time at Depot Park for our Thanksgiving Social! We enjoyed catered food, a membership raffle, and a fun time with friends.
COVID-19 Supply Drive
October 18th, 2020- As part of GRMR and UF Med’s COVID-19 workshop, we made 110 COVI-19 packets for our Burmese and Syrian refugee communities! Thank you to everyone who helped us collect supplies and create materials for our workshop and pamphlets.
Fall Concessions
Fall 2020- Our awesome concession volunteers working hard and having fun to help us raise money for our fall fundraising organization, Anera!
Hygiene Kit Drive
Summer 2020- GRMR partnered with HSA at UF and UF Delta Delta Sigma to hold a hygiene kit drive to provide hygiene supplies to migrant farmworkers and their families without adequate access to medical and dental care. We were able to collect 241 kits for migrant farmworkers, surpassing our initial goal of 75 kits, and even our second goal of 200!! A huge thank you to everyone involved!
Virtual Documentary Night!
July 2nd, 2020- GRMR members had a great time watching the documentary Myanmar's Killing Fields to raise money for our hygiene kit drive while also learning about the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar!
Jacksonville Zoo Comes to Tutoring!
Feb. 22nd, 2020- The kids, families, and tutors got in touch with their wild side at this tutoring session featuring a visit from the Jacksonville Zoo! A big thank you to Mr. Andrew Jacobs for taking the time to come in and speak to our group about various bones and fossils, animals, as well as his own zoo-keeping experiences!
SPRING GBM #2: PRE-HEALTH Q&A PANEL
Feb. 20th, 2020- We successfully hosted our first pre-health Q&A panel, featuring UF’s very own professional students! Our panel featured students from the Colleges of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Physician Assistant Studies, Pharmacy, and Public Health. We cannot convey how grateful we were that these students took the time out of their busy schedules to come spread some of their wisdom to us. At the end of the panel, members were able to go up individually and network with the students. The students expressed thoroughly that the admissions process for each of their respective schools is based off individual applications and what the applicant is able to show passion for within their extra-curriculars and application. They left us with one major tip: do some research into what you like- even if you don’t think it exists as an actual field, it probably does! In addition to the panel, we announced the organization we will be partnering with to fund-raise for this semester: Migrant Offshore Aid Station, or MOAS. MOAS is currently operating from Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh, where they are focusing on providing Flood and Water Safety training to the Rohingya refugees. They have also recently launched a mission in Yemen where they are providing pharmaceutical aid and famine relief to the port of Aden. To learn more about their organization, visit their website linked below! Last but not least, a big congratulations to Adam for winning member of the month!
FIRST SPRING GENERAL BODY MEETING
Jan. 23rd, 2020- Reunited at last! After a well-deserved break, we are ready to get back to work and have another amazing semester full of life-changing opportunities! At our first general body meeting of the semester, new and returning members alike got the chance to catch up on what we have coming up for this spring. Our passionate new Director of Medical Service Naz Hussein was introduced to the member base, assistant director applications opened up, socials and tutoring dates were announced, and new friends were made. Congratulations to Bryanna for winning member of the month! Check back under our “Events” calendar to stay updated on what we have happening!
🧸GRMR HOLIDAY TOY DRIVE 2019🧸
December 14th, 2019- Thanks to the help from all of our gracious donors, this holiday season we were able to raise $600 worth of toys for over 25 of the refugee students we tutor. From bey blades and nerf guns, to magic magnets and stuffed animals, our children were ecstatic upon being handed their individual gifts! None of this could have been possible without help from our GRMR family, and words can only convey so much of the gratitude we and the families feel toward you all!
Wishing you a happy holiday season,
~Gators for Refugee Medical Relief
INTERNATIONAL AID TRIP TO JORDAN
November, 2019- A few GRMR members travelled to Amman, Jordan, to provide medical volunteer services in refugee camps. We worked closely with Atlantic Humanitarian Relief, a Boston-based and Jordan registered non-profit, to provide these humanitarian services. This trip provided GRMR volunteers with extensive clinical shadowing as well as exposure to the global medical aid effort.
1ST FALL SOCIAL: LAKE WAUBURG
September 8th, 2019 - Boats, burgers, and (volley)balls. Our first social of the semester was a day full of fun and bonding between new and returning members alike. If you weren’t able to come out to this one, fear not; we have another one up our sleeves…
FIRST FALL GENERAL BODY MEETING
August 29th, 2019 - We had a blast at our first GBM of the semester; seeing so many familiar faces touched our hearts, and meeting even more new ones only makes us even more excited to see our GRMR family grow this semester!
SUMMER TUTORING WITH REFUGEES
June 1st, 2019- Gators for Refugee Medical Relief volunteers conducted a science experiment with the kids! Initially they thought science would be boring, but by the end everyone was super excited about the results.
GAINESVILLE FARMER’S MARKET
April 10, 2019- Gators for Refugee Medical Relief members meet at the Gainesville Farmer’s Market at Bo Diddley Plaza for yummy tacos and refreshing tea! Catch us at the farmer’s market held every Wednesday in downtown Gainesville!
4TH GENERAL BODY MEETING & GUEST SPEAKER LAILA ALAWA
April 8, 2019- GRMR holds our fourth and final General Body Meeting for the Spring Semester. We would like to extend a special thank you to Laila Alawa from NuDay Syria for speaking to our members about the refugee crisis and how our organization can make a direct impact on those lives affected. Thank you to our wonderful, selfless members for their diligent fundraising efforts to support healthcare clinics in Syria and to help us provide monetary support for our orphaned refugee we are sponsoring.
MIDNIGHTS AT MID
March 22, 2019- GRMR members hang out on a Friday night selling sweet treats to raise money for NuDay Syria.
SATURDAY TUTORING
March 16, 2019- GRMR Saturday Tutoring sessions with Refugees “scores” every time! Our members had an amazing time teaching English to refugees in Jacksonville, Florida over the weekend. After the homework was completed, we went outside for a couple games of soccer, flew paper airplanes, and had some bonding time with our members over delicious pizza!
Saturday Tutoring Session
March 2, 2019- GRMR members traveled to Jacksonville, Florida to aid refugees in their English speaking and writing skills, played games with the children, and taught the elders vital information needed to obtain citizenship in this country.
GRMR Social at Lake Wauburg
February 24, 2019- GRMR members gather at UF’s Lake Wauburg for a day
full of bonding, food, sand volleyball, rock climbing, laughter, and new friends.
Midnights at Mid
February 23, 2019- GRMR members selling baked goods and water bottles
at MidTown as we fundraise to furnish a maternity clinic in Syria and to
sponsor an orphaned refugee residing in Syria.
2nd Spring General Body Meeting
February 18, 2019- GRMR held its second General Body Meeting for the Spring semester on February 18th! We played a game to get to know our members a little bit better, announced the winner of the Miami Getaway Raffle (congrats Eric Beck!), and updated our members on all of our upcoming events! Keep checking the calendar under “Events” and the Facebook to find out when the next GBM is!
Medical Clinic for Burmese Refugees
February 9, 2019- GRMR members traveled to Jacksonville, Florida to volunteer at a medical clinic
sponsored by the Jacksonville Myanmar Association to provide healthcare services to Burmese refugees.
Saturday Tutoring and Gardening with Refugees
February 2, 2019- Members of GRMR traveled to Jacksonville, Florida to teach
English conventions to young and elder refugees from Burma and Congo, paint ceramic pots, and plant vegetable seeds.
