In raising $300,000 to build solar panels for a West African hospital, Kathryn Hall did more than solicit funds. She won national awards, appeared on television and 25 million bags of Doritos and even got Hollywood stars to join her cause.
A 2008 College graduate and current student in the School of Medicine, Hall created Power Up Gambia after volunteering at the Sulayman Junkung General Hospital in The Gambia in summer 2006.
The five-year-old hospital's CEO showed her that installing $300,000 solar panels would provide desperately needed electricity and running water, otherwise available only for eight hours a day.
At the time, it seemed like another idealistic but unattainable goal, she said in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian last year.
But since then, Hall proved herself wrong by mounting a successful effort that is still gaining speed. She reached the goal's halfway mark early last year, and the hospital installed its first solar-powered water pump and energy-efficient light bulbs.
Now, Hall is preparing to return to The Gambia to inaugurate the installation of a total of 96 solar panels next month.
She called the fundraising "home-grown," spreading through word of mouth.
"After we started raising more money, though, we got a lot more attention, and all of a sudden Power Up just bloomed," Hall said. "On top of that, we had a lot more credibility - at the beginning, some people didn't want to give money to a 20-year-old."
Hall also attributed part of her success to the Delaware Community Foundation, which manages the nonprofit. The umbrella group usually only supports local projects with at least $10,000 in funding, but "took me under their wings .with $25," Hall said.
The publicity Power Up gained also fueled its momentum.
Most prominently, Hall was invited to the Teen Choice Awards as one of nine finalists of non-profit Do Something's BRICK award. Though she did not win, all finalists received $10,000 for their cause. Hall's finalist status also led to Power Up Gambia being featured on 25 million bags of Doritos chips.
Olivia Wilde, who played Alex Kelly on The O.C. and Dr. Remy Hadley on House, also became interested in the organization and is "really working the Hollywood scene and is committed to getting the word out," Hall said.
Power Up has had its share of challenges, many of which are cross-cultural and "you would not face here in the [United States]," Hall said.
"For example, they couldn't find cement, and it takes a week and a half to get it," she said. "It's things like that that drive you nuts sitting here but you can't just go to Lowe's and pick up a bucket of cement. Everything takes longer because the infrastructure doesn't exist."
But Power Up doesn't plan to slow down anytime soon, expanding its goal to providing solar power to satellite clinics in the countryside, which Hall will visit in March.
Hall is also working to get an office in The Gambia, is pursuing a chapter at Penn and recently hired the organization's first interns.
"Sometimes I go, oh my God, why am I doing this, it's so much work," said Hall. "When you go back, though, it hits you - it's one of those re-energizing things."
