A group of students from St. John’s University, guided by Adjunct Professor Kevin McShane, raised over $1,000 during the Spring 2025 semester to support The Cookstove Project. This nonprofit organization focuses on public safety and environmental sustainability in developing countries.

The Cookstove Project was founded in 2013 with the aim of reducing preventable deaths caused by cooking over open fires. The organization highlights that nearly 2.6 billion people worldwide rely on open fires for cooking, leading to 3.8 million deaths annually due to air pollution.

Students from Professor McShane’s Ethics and Philosophy of the Human Person courses at St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences were introduced to the initiative by Jeff Cadge, a board member of The Cookstove Project and a friend of Professor McShane. "Students in Professor McShane’s classes should be congratulated," Mr. Cadge said. "When they learned that a simple, inexpensive solution exists to an issue that leads to 2.6 million premature deaths, they were quickly motivated to help."

Traditional stone cooking fires are prevalent in developing nations due to their simplicity and availability but produce toxic gases such as carbon monoxide and formaldehyde. These pollutants can cause permanent lung damage and are particularly harmful to children under four years old.

Professor McShane noted the impact of the fundraiser on his students: “The fundraiser was an eye-opener for the students,” he said. “They saw how a small contribution can make a significant difference in the lives of impoverished people.”

The funds raised will provide a community in Uganda with 100 clean cookstoves designed to reduce exposure to harmful byproducts while conserving trees used for firewood.

Since its inception, The Cookstove Project has distributed stoves across 51 villages in Uganda and continues installing approximately 200 stoves monthly, also extending efforts to Nepalese villages.

Dayeon Lee, one of Professor McShane's students, praised the project’s emphasis on community involvement: “I admire The Cookstove Project’s focus on community ownership,” she said.

This initiative is part of several offered through St. John’s Office of Community Engaged Learning established in 1995, encouraging students' application of education toward global challenges such as food insecurity and health care.

Frank A. Peluso from St. John's emphasized the value of student engagement: "St. John's has always recognized the value of student engagement on issues that align with our Vincentian mission,” he stated.