Emory grads give HOPE to the world’s poor

Let’s be honest, Emory graduates have gone off to do great things. Whether it be in medicine, business, or in other fields, Emory continues to make a significant and powerful difference in both the Atlanta community and across the nation. Emory alums are also greatly involved in the field of service.

A recent graduate named Munir Meghjani (and a group of other individuals) co-founded a charity organization called HOPE – Helping Organizations and People Everywhere. A non-profit based in Atlanta, this organization aims to embody values of awareness, civil society, and financial support. The group works to bring together diverse individuals of no matter their race, gender, or social status. HOPE is also highly based on ideas of education as well as forming connections and relationships, acting as a liaison for people who wish to donate to given causes.

I had the opportunity to speak with the co-founder and executive director of this organization, Munir Meghajani, about his motivations behind forming this organization and his plans for its future:

Tell us about yourself. What did you do at Emory? How were you involved?

I’m 27 years old, and graduated Emory in 2010. I went to Oxford and Emory College where I majored in Psychology and minored in Sociology & Philosophy. I was an RA, I started a club called Everybody’s BBQ, and I currently have a seat on the Oxford/Emory Alumni Board.

How did you come up with the idea, and what triggered it?

A group of individuals actually came up with the idea. We wanted a fun way to raise money for the Agha Khan Foundation’s yearly Partnership Walk (an annual charity event that raises money to end global poverty). We hosted a garba (an Indian cultural dance event) and a football tournament about three years ago for this cause and they both went really well. After those two, we had a lot of requests to continue to do things like that.

We found that there’s been this miscommunication between our generation and the older generation who runs these non-profit organizations, and so we wanted to do things that are fun and active, allowing for a great way for our generation (and the youth) to get involved and give back to the community.

What were the initial hopes for it, how has it progressed?

We aimed to complete three folds:

1. Raise awareness for the issues that people face around world in unique way.
2. To bring together the community at large.
3. Short and long-term financial support for good non-profits in the region and nationwide.
4. What are the kind of people involved with it and where do you hope to see it going in the future?

We have everybody from seniors in high school to young adults in all races and religions. We continue to grow in the aspect that we are in hosting larger events. Eventually, we aim to help non-profits in consulting way, assisting new, starting up organizations as well as already established non-profits. Collectively from the members of our executive board, we have almost 100 years of non-profit experience. It’s what we’ve grown up in, and we’ve become familiar with different themes of success in non-profits, and so we want to share the learned knowledge and experience that we have gained from ourselves and other non-profits in order to help build opportunities for striving non-profits.

Why is HOPE particularly special – are there any stories in particular that stand out?  Any people worth mentioning?

We bring a lot of components together, especially awareness-building capabilities. HOPE is a “cool group” of kids that can get knowledge and awareness through fun ways like social media posts and events. We see a significant lack of altruism in world today, and there’s an innate need and desire to fill this lack. Our parents would fulfill it through actual physical activities like building houses. Our generation fulfills that same feeling by posting online. So by bringing the youth out for a fun event, we are bringing them towards awareness of other non-profits and connecting them in a fun way.

We have an annual basketball tournament in partnership with the Atlanta Hawks, and all the profits were donated to an orphanage in Kenya. This event focuses on donation for smart giving; if basic needs are met, you can achieve the level of education that’s needed to solve problems in society. With smart, sustainable donations, we can get individuals out of the cycle of poverty.

For the final round of this tournament, we had a Asian American Christian team playing against an African American Muslim team– two teams that would’ve never crossed paths, with completely opposite socioeconomic status, race, religion, culture, etc. Yet they came together over love of basketball, learned about the orphanage we were supporting, and became friends all because of this event. Now the captains of these teams are also good friends and I’ve seen them play out on their own.

Other founders include:

Altamish Bhaidani, Aftab Panjwani, Naveed Jessani, Tanvi Dhanani, Zain Suthar, Umer Rupani and Zunaid Isani.

The organization holds a variety of different events for different larger charities. On March 19, in honor of March being Water Sanitation month, they will hold a fundraiser for the UNICEF Tap Project, which aims to provide clean and hygienic water for children across the globe. The fundraiser consists of a dodge ball tournament, in which individuals can participate in teams of 5 for a price of $20, as well other raffles, activities, and prizes. There will also be live music, free yoga sessions, and discounts on a food truck which will done 15-33 percent of its profits to UNICEF. The raffles will consist of a $100 restaurant gift card, a chance to win a three-day stay at a condo in Palm Springs, Florida.

If you are interested in joining HOPE, contact Munir Meghjani at [email protected] or follow HOPE on Facebook.