As a part of the 2017 Samford’s Big Give, Samford University’s department of Social Work is proud to announce a new scholarship that will support a Master of Social Work student who is selected to serve as an intern with World Relief in Atlanta, a non-profit organization that works holistically with the local church on global initiatives, including refugee and immigration services.

All gifts made to the “Better Together with World Relief” project will go toward this new scholarship and help cover partial tuition and living expenses.

As a part of the Master of Social Work curriculum, all students must complete 250 internship hours each semester during their second year of study—or 500 hours in one semester if the internship takes place out of state. The student who will be selected to intern with World Relief will be embedded into the organization, and he or she will be given the opportunity to truly make an impact on the organization and the people it serves.

According to the World Relief website, by the end of 2014, nearly 60 million people were forcibly displaced from their home, with nearly a third—20 million—living outside of their countries as refugees.

The refugee crisis is a topic that several faculty members in the department are passionate about. Just last year, chair of the department of Social Work, Ken Stoltzfus and professors David Cecil and Rachel Hagues traveled to Germany to study the types of training that providers had received to help refugees and to identity additional training that could enhance their efforts.

“Within our department, we strive to train our students to treat and serve the most vulnerable populations. In today’s world, it seems that no one is more vulnerable than a refugee,” said Hagues.

Samford’s Big Give is a 36-hour annual crowdfunding campaign driven by social media.