The History!

Before 1980

Over the course of many years, a series of unconnected and largely unorganized service projects were untaken by Fordham students, faculty, and administrators. The most consistent location was Mexico, where team members assisted in providing medical services in area clinics. The actualization of these trips depended on the interest and number of participants, which varied from year to year. At the end of the 1950's, these projects began to incorporate construction work as well. Campus Ministry eventually initiated its own service projects to Peru and Appalachia, independently of the ongoing Mexico project. Like the Mexican counterparts, the execution and success of these Campus Ministry-organized projects varied greatly.

1980-1990

By 1988 the tradition of service abroad was becoming a well established tradition at Fordham University. The year to year consistency of the existing service projects was becoming more and more solidified. Up until this time, service trips were all run by different organizations on campus. Combining the raising level of student interest with the growing complexity that it took to organize such endeavors, it soon became evident that a new, more focused, organization staff would have to come together to serve the student body better. In 1988, Father Paulbrant, SJ, committed himself to such a purpose. The new name of the club was the "Mexico Group Project." Mexico and Peru were the two most complex projects that the club offered, by still providing other satellite projects that solely served the United States.

1990-Present Day

Global Outreach, in its currently recognizable form, was not established until 1990. Interest in service abroad reached such high levels that, once again, a necessity for the club's expansion became evident. Dave Phillipson, an administrator at Fordham, organized the first board. The purpose of this board was to expand levels of participation and service opportunities for the student body. They began by initiating projects to Navajo, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti, as well as the first cross Atlantic project, to India. Now encompassing a more advanced palette of locations and work sites, the name Global Outreach was adopted.