DJ Pharma sends free medicine to Honduras on behalf of service team from WFU
From cough syrup and antibiotics to better roads and schools, the people in the Agalta Valley of Honduras soon will benefit from the work of Wake Forest University students and the generosity of one student’s parent.
Jim Newman, chief executive officer and president of DJ Pharma in San Diego, Calif., is sending thousands of bottles of medicines to Honduras. The shipment will arrive just as 11 students begin a 10-day service project there.
Newman decided to donate the medicine after hearing about Wake Forest students’ annual domestic and international service projects. Seventy percent of students complete volunteer work during their time at the university. Newman’s daughter, Jennifer, is a Wake Forest sophomore. She hopes to participate in a future project.
“When we found out about the international service projects that Wake Forest students do each year, we decided to extend our hand to help them,” Jim Newman said. “These students going to Honduras are very generous to give part of their holiday break to help others, and we wanted to support that effort.”
DJ Pharma will become Biovail Pharmaceuticals Inc. Jan. 1, 2001, when the corporate headquarters moves to Morrisville, N.C., near the Raleigh-Durham airport. The company recently changed the formula for its cough and cold medications, and is sending thousands of extra bottles from the previous formulation to Honduras.
The students’ journey to the Central American country is part of the Honduras Outreach Project and Exchange (HOPE) Scholars Program. The students and one leader will travel to the Agalta Valley, a remote mountainous region devastated by 1998’s Hurricane Mitch. Working beside the region’s residents, the students will help dig latrines, build additions to houses, repair roads and assist with other projects.
The Agalta Valley is an extremely poor, undeveloped region. It has the highest infant mortality rate in all of Honduras. The average annual family income is $400 and there are no paved roads, plumbing and electricity services, nor a medical infrastructure.
This is the fourth year that Wake Forest students have contributed to the project through assistance from the Mary Reynolds Babcock Fund for Leadership and Ethics.
The group’s stay in Honduras will last from Jan. 5 to 15.
