Butler Undergrad Develops COVID-19 Education Campaign
Ethan King (white jersey) has launched a campaign to educate people in African villages about the risks of COVID-19 (Photo courtesy: Butler U./Brent Smith)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA junior at Butler University is using his passion for soccer to help educate people living in impoverished villages in Africa about the health risks of COVID-19.
Ethan King, who is getting a degree in entrepreneurship, says United 19 is his latest initiative.
“These places don’t really have hospitals or healthcare systems to help them stay healthy,” says King, who is also a forward on Butler’s soccer team.
King has previously established a nonprofit organization called Charity Ball that helps coordinate donations of soccer balls to children in 50 countries.
The university says most of the destinations are impoverished, where children kick around makeshift soccer balls.
King is using his contacts made through Charity Ball to help develop advance his new health education campaign.
“We’re trying to take preventative action. We’re trying to give people the resources and advocacy they need and deserve,” says King.
The college student says he hopes the program will help slow the spread of the coronavirus in areas where people are suffering from HIV, dysentery, and other diseases.
“What Ethan King has been trying to do has been a great example to incorporate into the class,” says Stephanie Fernhaber, one of King’s entrepreneurship instructors. “I think everyone, especially nonprofits, needs to be responsive to the crisis. You have to respond and figure out how to incorporate it into your mission.”
The younger King has some built-in support from home. His father Brian runs the clean water organization Vox. The Michigan-based organization is setting up prevention programs for workers who install wells in many of the African villages.
“When the water wells are broken down, they’re having to get water from the rivers they bathe in or other sources of contaminated water,” says King. “That’s not going to help them in the fight against the coronavirus.”
Click here to learn more about the program.