The first time Samira Sami “made an ask” for philanthropic dollars, she was 17 years old, appearing in front of the Rotary Club of Hialeah-Miami Springs. “Their philosophy is, ‘Invest in the youth and see what they do with it.’ So they gave me a check for $1,000,” she recalls. The club’s donation and steadfast encouragement were the seeds for Project Loja, a program Sami launched with her brother through which volunteers bring toys, medicine, and vitamins to an orphanage in Ecuador.

“Rotary International is an organization of business professionals who all come from different backgrounds but have the same philosophy of service above self,” says Sami.

So last year Sami called upon junior business major and friend Alexandra De Filippo for support in starting a University of Miami-based Rotaract, the Rotary-sponsored service club for college students and young adults. De Filippo enlisted her friend Dipesh Patel, a senior neuroscience major, and with the help of other friends, the group founded what is now the largest of four Rotaract clubs in the South Florida/Bahamas district and one of 8,000 worldwide.

Project Loja is one of many international and local endeavors for The Rotaract Club of UM, which now has 26 active members. Another initiative is the Aka1000 Project, which aims to combat malnourishment and unemployment in Haiti through Akamil. Part cereal and part beans or rice, Akamil has been manufactured in Port-au-Prince for more than a decade but has a short shelf life, is inconvenient to prepare, and lacks essential vitamins and nutrients. The Rotaract Club of UM has partnered with Project Medishare, a charity that works with the Miller School of Medicine to provide health care in Thomonde, Haiti, to raise funds for a plant in Thomonde that would produce an improved kind of Akamil. For about 40 cents, one pound of Aka1000 can feed three meals to a family of three. The club has thus far raised $85,000 toward its $125,000 goal and secured a commitment for a matching gift from an anonymous donor.

“I was born in Kenya, and I’ve been exposed to poverty, but after going to Haiti, the dire need for help is indescribable,” says Patel, who traveled there with Sami and representatives from Project Medishare last year. “This is how you help them help themselves.”

“This is the first time that Rotaract has taken the lead on a major project,” says Marcy Ullom, associate vice president of continuing and international education and faculty advisor for the club. “It’s exciting for Rotarians to see young people not only understand challenges of the world today but take action to address those challenges.”