![\"Fundraising](\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Dinner-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOn June 2, 2021, the Namaste Miami Indian Cuisine restaurant in Coral Gables was filled with FIU students, faculty and alumni. Though some people were reuniting and others meeting for the first time, all guests were there to show support for residents of Bandhwari, India — more than 8,000 miles away.<\/p>\n
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The dinner was part of a new\u00a0fundraising effort<\/a>\u00a0by FIU\u2019s International Business Honors Society (IBHS) for Bandhwari, an under-resourced village on the outskirts of New Delhi. The village has grown familiar and dear to many IBHS students throughout the 6-year-old Bandhwari Women\u2019s Project. While the pandemic has created difficulties for the women\u2019s project, students and alumni have continued their work in support of the village, with a goal to raise $10,000 total.<\/p>\n David Wernick, a teaching professor of international business who serves as faculty advisor for IBHS, founded the women\u2019s project in 2016. The project focuses on\u00a0helping the women of the village gain financial independence<\/a>\u00a0through creating hand-crafted fashion accessories. IBHS students manage the production, logistics, marketing, sales, and distribution of the products, with many of the items sold on campus and via the\u00a0IBHS website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Keeping Bandhwari healthy, from a distance.<\/em><\/p>\n The initiative has given these women a means of economic freedom and security, stability in the village, and material goods, from new sewing machines to health items. However, it\u2019s also benefitting FIU students in many ways, from building business skills to gaining new humanitarian insights.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s been a life-changing experience working hands-on with the Bandhwari social initiative,\u201d said former IBHS president Joseph Devlin (BBA \u201820), \u201cnot only for me, but also seeing the improvement of the village, and the elevated confidence of the women that get more skilled every year.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the pandemic has created some difficulties for the village and project. The village is small but densely populated, making it hard to social distance, and many of its residents can\u2019t afford to stay home from work. Maite Elizalde (BBA \u201920), a graduate student helping remotely from Spain, noted that many villagers must risk infection in order to provide for their families. Vaccine shortages and India\u2019s overwhelmed health system have created additional vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n![\"Bandhwari](\"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/bandhwari-humanitarian-work-products..jpg\" "\\"Bandhwari")
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